Fakhar Zaman, who featured in 86 ODIs, suffered a muscle strain while fielding in the New Zealand match. The incident left him out of action for the most part of the match in the Champions Trophy 2025
Fakhar Zaman (Pic: File Pic)
Injured Pakistan cricketer Fakhar Zaman brushed out all the rumours about his retirement and said that he will continue playing all forms of cricket and should be fit for the national duty in a month's time.
Fakhar Zaman sustained an injury during Pakistan's opening match of the Champions Trophy 2025 against New Zealand. He was later ruled out of the tournament as he sustained a knee injury.
Imam-Ul-Haq was named as his replacement. Following Zaman's injury, the rumours about his retirement started forming up on social media platforms.
"Well, I've also heard a lot about this and my friends have also sent messages. There is no truth in this. One-day is my favourite format and, yes, because of my thyroid (problem) I was thinking of taking some time off from cricket."
"But retirement never crossed my mind. I want to play One-day, T20, even I want to play Test cricket," Fakhar Zaman said in a video posted on 'X' by Pakistan Cricket Board.
Fakhar Zaman, who featured in 86 ODIs, suffered a muscle strain while fielding in the New Zealand match. The incident left him out of action for the most part of the match in the Champions Trophy 2025.
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The injury happened while he was chasing a ball heading to the boundary in the first over of the contest. Zaman's ouster was a blow to the side as he was in reasonably good form. Pakistan lost their next match to arch-foes India in Dubai by six wickets to be eliminated from the eight-team tournament.
Zaman said he will be back to full fitness in a month's time.
"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.
The left-handed batter said that had he opened against New Zealand chasing the mammoth 320-run total, things could have been different.
He wasn't able to open the batting in the second innings, forcing Saud Shakeel to take stance as a stop-gap opener. Zaman batted at No.4, scoring 24 off 41, but seemed visibly struggling during his knock in the match which Pakistan lost by 60 runs.
"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."
Fakhar Zaman said he had seen a marked improvement in his injury over the week.
"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."
Fakhar Zaman said despite white-ball cricket being his favourite, he still wants to play the red-ball format.
"I still want to play Tests but the coaches and captain have their own planning and I also feel that there are better Test players in Pakistan," he said, adding, "I would like to open on comeback but it's up to them where they want to keep me."
(With PTI Inputs)
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