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Following the side’s exit from the marquee event, speculations about the future of Fakhar Zaman were rife as some reports stated that the star batter sought to hang up his boots. However, the 34-year-old brushed off talks of retirement as baseless rumours and vowed to…Read More
Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman plays a shot during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between Pakistan and New Zealand, in Karachi, Pakistan Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Defending champions Pakistan crashed out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 at home as they fell to two successive defeats at the hands of New Zealand and India, respectively, to exit the ICC event held on home soil after a three-decade wait.
Following the side’s exit from the marquee event, speculations about the future of Fakhar Zaman were rife as some reports stated that the star batter sought to hang up his boots. However, the 34-year-old brushed off talks of retirement as baseless rumours and vowed to strive to make the cut across formats.
“Well, I’ve also heard a lot about this, and my friends have also sent messages. There is no truth in this,” he said.
“One-day is my favourite format and, yes, because of my thyroid problem, I was thinking of taking some time off from cricket,” he added.
“But retirement never crossed my mind. I want to play One-day, T20, even I want to play Test cricket,” the southpaw reiterated.
Pakistan’s tournament was off to an ominous start as Zaman sustained a lower back injury while fielding against NZ in the opener and had to contend with the difficulties that followed as a result of the same.
“As far as my comeback from injury is concerned, I will hopefully return to competitive cricket in a month. I got an idea about my Champions Trophy campaign ending after the pain I felt,” he said.
Pakistan missed the presence of the left-handed batter up the order and he echoed the same sentiment as he stated,”Had I opened then things could have been different because when you get a big target, then the opener has a big role to play.”
“In the last one week, I’ve seen a marked improvement in my healing. The doctor has said that I can start training after three weeks, so I should be back in one month.”
Zaman voiced that despite limited-overs cricket being his preferred format, he would also like to feature in the red-ball version of the game.
“I still want to play Tests, but the coaches and captain have their own planning,g and I also feel that there are better Test players in Pakistan,” the 34-year-old said.
“I would like to open on comeback, but it’s up to them where they want to keep me,” he concluded.
