Maaz Sadaqat doesn’t like to contain himself in a box. Players of his style—that is, players who go full throttle— aren’t usually considered apt for more serene, longer formats. But Maaz, who made his ODI debut in March this year and has only played five ODIs since, has his eyes on the ODI World Cup next year.
He is not part of Pakistan’s squad for the ODI tri-series involving England and Sri Lanka, but that wouldn’t deter him from his path. The young batter says he will use the time away from the side to build his case for the World Cup.
“I am targeting the ODI World Cup, and I am preparing for it,” Sadaqat told Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Digital.
“I have a 15-20-day window coming up which I am going to dedicate to working on myself for the World Cup,” he added.
As good a start as it gets
Maaz had a brilliant start to his T20I career, having scored 184 runs in four games at an excellent strike rate of 170. He came tantalisingly close to his maiden T20I century in just his fourth game for Pakistan. Batting at 96 against Sri Lanka and facing the last delivery of the innings, it was only natural that Maaz went for a big shot to clear the boundary, airborne or otherwise. But that was not to be, as he was caught in the deep.
The young batter realises that he has plenty of areas to work on, but instead of sulking about his weaknesses, Maaz would rather polish his strengths.
“[In training] I try to work as much as I can on my strengths and less on my weaknesses, because if the ball is out of my range, I’d still be able to push it for a single or two. However, if it is in my range, then I can hit it for six with my eyes closed,” Sadaqat explained.
Maaz in CPL 2026
He joined Pakistan in the Asian Games after a barely believable stint for Jamaica Kingsmen in the Caribbean Premier League. He struck his second century of the season in the CPL 2026 final, during which he was one of the few bright spots for Jamaica Kingsmen. Scoring two centuries, he joined a list of only four players to do so in the CPL. Besides him, Shimron Hetmyer also achieved the same feat this year, the first time a batter had done so since 2017.
The century took Maaz’s run tally to 363, making him the third-highest run-scorer in the league this year.
“If you watch both my CPL and international knocks, I keep a positive intent from the very start. And if the ball comes in my range then I don’t spare it. And when a ball is a bit here or there, I try to rotate the strike.”
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