Fawad Alam

Alam was picked to play against England in 2010 and wanted to make the most of his opportunity to get picked for the two upcoming tours and then be selected for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He also stated that he had played a little bit of club cricket in England to help him get used to the english conditions and to train for the tour.[3] Alam scored well in the first two matches but his major break came in the third One-Day International when he increased his top score to 64. He then retained his place for the ODI series against South Africa in the UAE. After scoring 123 runs in the 5 match series, he was subsequently dropped from the ODI team and later that year, lost his place in the T20 team after the tour to New Zealand.

Back at first-class cricket, he now captains National Bank of Pakistan. Fawad also has been highest run-scorer in first-class season of 2012–13. Alam has been the top rated batsman in domestic cricket for the past couple of seasons as per the rankings issued on PCB website.

After being dropped from all formats for three and a half years, his impressive displays domestically (most notably being the top run scorer in the President's One Day Trophy in the season 2013/14) earned him a deserved recall to the national side for the Asia Cup in 2014. His first match after his recall was against the host team Bangladesh, deputising for the injured Sharjeel Khan. He contributed significantly to the team's victory, scoring 74 runs from 70 balls in a competitive chase of 326. He continued his form by scoring his maiden international ODI hundred (114*) against Sri Lanka in the final, rescuing his side from 18/3 to 260/5 with the help of Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal. His effort was not enough though as Sri Lanka successfully chased the target to become the champions of the 2014 Asia Cup.[4]

In 2017, Fawad signed to play as a professional for Clitheroe cricket club in the Lancashire League (cricket). In April 2018, he was named the vice-captain of Sindh's squad for the 2018 Pakistan Cup.[5][6] In March 2019, he was named in Baluchistan's squad for the 2019 Pakistan Cup.[7][8]

In September 2019, he was named in Sindh's squad for the 2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament.[9][10]

In July 2009, Fawad became the first Pakistani cricketer to score a Test century on debut away from home, and the tenth to score a century on debut. In the second innings of the second test against Sri Lanka, Fawad scored 168 runs. This is the second highest score on debut for Pakistan, before this Yasir Hameed scored 170 in 2003 in Karachi. He along with captain Younus Khan scored 200 runs for the second wickets partnership, breaking the previous record of 151 runs between Mohsin Khan and Majid Khan at Lahore in 1981–82. It was also highest partnership for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka.[11] This is also 15 highest score on Test debut.[12] This is also the highest score by a Pakistani on debut from a losing side, previously held by Younus.[13] However, just two test matches later, he was dropped from the Test Squad.

In December 2019, after a gap of more than ten years, he was named in Pakistan's Test squad, for the two-match series against Sri Lanka.[14] In June 2020, he was named in a 29-man squad for Pakistan's tour to England during the COVID-19 pandemic.[15][16]