Fawad Alam quits Pakistan cricket, to play in Minor League Cricket T20 in the USA

Left-handed batter Fawad Alam pulled the curtains down on his 14-year-long career for Pakistan and is now set to ply his trade in the United States of America (USA). The 37-year-old is said to be playing for the Chicago Kingsmen in Minor League Cricket T20.

Alam is among the many cricketers who have shifted their bases from Pakistan to the USA to revive their cricket careers. Some of the other players are Saif Badar, Mohammad Mohsin, Hammad Azam and Sami Aslam.

Alam last played for Pakistan back in July 2022 when Babar Azam’s men toured Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series. Thereafter, he was left out of Pakistan’s home series against England.

Alam scored 33 runs from four innings during Australia’s Test tour of Pakistan. Back then, the then PCB chief selector Muhammad Wasim said that Fawad was left out due to poor performance.

“He could not perform well in the previous three series, which is why we selected Saud Shakeel,” Wasim was quoted as saying earlier.

The move to bring in Shakeel did not backfire as the left-handed batter recently made the record of scoring most centuries in his first seven Tests.

As far as Fawad is concerned, he made his Test debut way back in 2009, but lost his place in the team. Although he scored runs in heaps at the domestic level, the southpaw had to wait 11 years to break back into the Pakistan team.

In 19 Tests, Alam has scored 1011 runs at an average of 38.88 and a strike-rate of 46.58 with five hundreds and two half-centuries.

Alam also played 38 ODIs and 24 T20Is for Pakistan, scoring 966 and 194 runs respectively, with six hundreds and eight fifties.

READ MORE

Alam, who will turn 37 in October, will play as a local player for the Chicago Kingsmen in Minor League Cricket (MiCL) T20, a tournament that underpins USA’s just concluded flagship T20 tournament Major League Cricket (MLC).

The 2023 edition of MiLC features 26 teams playing nationwide at 17 venues. Of these 26 games, 19 matches are set to be held at Grand Prairie Stadium, the newly redeveloped premier cricket venue in Grand Prairie, Texas. The venue was one of the two hosts of the just concluded MLC. Fawad Alam switches his loyalty Alam – who has been out of favour – has joined a long list of Pakistan cricketers such as Sami Aslam, Hammad Azam, Saif Badar and Mohammad Mohsin who moved their bases to the USA in search of greener pastures.
Although he made his white ball debut for Pakistan in 2007, Alam’s presence has been sporadic at best in the Pakistan dressing room. Notching up a ton on Test debut in 2009, the Karachi-born cricketer was dropped a couple of Tests later and played his next game after a gap of 11 years, despite amassing truckloads of runs in the domestic circuit with an average of 55.

Alam – whose father Tariq Alam played in the domestic circuit in Pakistan – established himself on the national Test side for a brief period after his career got a new lease of life in 2020. He vindicated his selection by slamming a gritty hundred in New Zealand under trying circumstances. Fawad Alam International Cricket Career For Pakistan However, Alam’s unorthodox technique got found out against Australia early this year. He managed 33 in 4 innings on the most docile tracks and was eventually dumped after failing in a Test against Sri Lanka in July 2022.

He was part of Pakistan’s 2009 T20 World Cup winning squad but could only muster up 11 more games in the format after the championship win. He played 19 Tests, 38 ODIs and 24 T20Is for Pakistan with multiple centuries.
Alam’s non-selection in Tests accompanied by an unconventional technique divided opinions across the spectrum in Pakistan cricket for almost a decade. Former players and media vociferously clamoured for his selection as he churned out runs by the truckloads season after season in the Qaid-e-Azam trophy. He walks into the sunset with over 14,000 runs in domestic cricket.