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End Of The Road For Saim Ayub? Pakistan's Newest Sensation Slams Back-To-Back Tons

Anurag Dasgupta

Shahzaib scored successive tons in Under-19 Asia Cup [Source: @CricWick/X.Com] Shahzaib scored successive tons in Under-19 Asia Cup [Source: @CricWick/X.Com]

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Pakistan's newest white-ball sensation, Shahzaib Khan slammed his second consecutive century in the ongoing Under-19 Asia Cup and stamped his authority once again in the competition.

He was at his imperial best against India, scoring in excess of 150 and the talented southpaw once again showed his calibre with a refined century and has knocked on the doors of the selectors.

In the ongoing clash against UAE, Shahzaib looked comfortable and took down the attack with ease. He started slowly, but once the left-handed batter picked up the pace, he didn't look back and blasted a brilliant century to push the UAE side on the back-foot. The conditions at the Dubai Cricket Stadium favoured the batters and UAE attack lacked the cutting-edge as Shahzaib took advantage of it.

He has scored two contrasting tons in the tournament so far. Against India, he was aggressive, right from the start, and here against UAE, he took his time and then hammered the UAE bowlers.

End of the road for Saim Ayub?

Saim did score a 53-ball century recently against Zimbabwe, but his inconsistency has always come under scrutiny. The Zimbabwean attack wasn't the best by any means and Saim took full advantage of it.

He also scored a quick-fire fifty against Australia, but. time and again, critics have questioned his game-play against quality bowling attack. His game-style is suitable for T20Is, but the left-handed batter has only racked up 333 runs in 24 matches, at a strike-rate of just 122.

Shahzaib is an exciting prospect, and at-least in ODIs, he should be asked to open with Saim Ayub. However, Saim's numbers don't do justification to his talent in T20Is, and with Pakistan's T20 game going downwards, it maybe time to give Shahzaib a chance at the top to replace Saim.