Salman Ali Agha scored a match-winning ton against Sri Lanka in the first ODI tri-series game. Salman has had a tumultuous few months following his appearance in the first Test against England, where he stood in as captain for injured Babar Azam. Salman not only handed captaincy back to Babar in the next game, but also lost his spot in the team.
Salman’s returns in ODIs remain strong
By the time the third Test of the series began, the all-rounder had been dropped from the squad altogether and sent back home.
Salman was also stripped of T20I captaincy and once again found himself out of the team entirely. There hardly is ever an explanation for decisions made at the PCB, but Salman’s exclusion from the side wasn’t entirely baseless. His struggles with the bat in Tests had become a little too persistent, having scored only two fifty-plus scores in nine Test innings this year.
The situation is similar, if not worse, for him in T20Is as well, where in his last seven innings he has scored more than 30 runs only once. It is in ODIs that his returns haven’t slumped in the same fashion. Having scored 450 runs since the start of last year, he is Pakistan’s highest run-scorer in the format, having scored three centuries, which is the joint-third highest for any team in the format.
Domestic cricket helped Agha regain his form
Salman says he returned to the basics by playing domestic cricket. Playing for Kingsmen Academy in the recent President’s Trophy Grade I, Salman struck a triple century in the opening round and carried on his sublime form throughout his stay in the competition.
This was followed by another century, three rounds later, as he scored 145 against KRL in Islamabad. In total, Salman scored 572 runs in five rounds, including two tons and a half-century.
“I did not have any other option but to go back to domestic cricket and perform after what happened in the last two months,” said Salman after leading Pakistan to a win in the opening tri-series game against Sri Lanka. “I struggled in those series [England and West Indies], but not before them. I did not have much time to improve my batting, so I went back to domestic cricket. These times come along in a cricketer’s career, but all I thought about was going back to domestic cricket and making things right, which I did, and it has paid off today.”
Salman was joined by Hasan Nawaz as both batters did the remedial work after Pakistan lost two quick wickets. They scored a 97-run stand between them, setting Pakistan up for a defendable target.
“The ball was coming really nicely, and I spoke to Hasan Nawaz about how we both needed to build a partnership. We both bat naturally aggressively, and if we build a partnership, we can score beyond 300. I did not want to take risks, so I had to run hard. I was trying to hit the ball into the gaps and take singles. The outfield was a bit slow, which is uncharacteristic of this venue, and because of that, I had to run hard.”
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