Pakistani Cricket Players: Ahmed Shehzad

Ahmed Shehzad Biography

Source(google.com.pk)

Ahmed Shehzad was yet another teenaged batsman introduced by Pakistan in the big bad world of international cricket. At the age of 17, he made his One-Day International (ODI) and T20 International debut against Australia in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Soon, he was a part of the side that lifted the ICC World T20 2009. A prolific scorer in age-group cricket, Shehzad worked his way up the ranks after making his first-class debut in 2007.

However, Shehzad could not quite establish himself and found himself out of the side after his early introduction. An ODI ton against New Zealand in early 2011 helped him get selected for the World Cup that year, though he did not play the knockout games. Shehzad was axed after the West Indies tour in 2011, though he had scored a ton in one of the ODIs.

He made his comeback two years later in the same setting and established himself thereafter with some phenomenal consistency. In 2013-14, he was handed a Test debut against Sri Lanka in UAE and scored his maiden ton in his third Test. During the 2014 World T20, he became the first Pakistani to score a T20I ton.

Shehzad has a wide range of shots and is talented enough to execute them very late. He doesn’t shy away from making room and going over the off-side in the shorter formats. He is also one of the safest fielders in the Pakistan camp.

Ahmed Shehzad aims to be an aggressive batsman like Ricky Ponting, and he is well on his way if his top-order performances for Pakistan Under-19s are any indication. Shehzad made his first-class debut in January 2007, just two months after his 15th birthday, and has since established himself as an opening batsman for the U-19 team. His 167 in the same year helped Pakistan chase down a stiff 342 in the first Youth Test against England in Derby. He backed that up with impressive performances at home, scoring 315 runs – with a highest of 105 – as Australia Under-19s were thrashed 5-0. Another century followed in the Youth Test against Bangladesh, and he carried that form into the triangular tournament in Sri Lanka in 2008, which Pakistan won. He made it to the Pakistan Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka the following year despite not being in the probables. A century in the tour game against the visitors changed his fortunes. He returned to the Under-19 circuit to represent Pakistan in the World Cup in New Zealand.

Major Team: Pakistan Lahore Eagles, Lahore Ravi, Lahore Shalimar, Pakistan Under-19s

Playing Roll: Batsman

Batting Style: Right

Bowling Style: Legbreak

Ahmed Shehzad aims to be an aggressive batsman like Ricky Ponting, and he is well on his way if his top-order performances for Pakistan Under-19s are any indication. Shehzad made his first-class debut in January 2007, just two months after his 15th birthday, and has since established himself as an opening batsman for the U-19 team. His 167 in the same year helped Pakistan chase down a stiff 342 in the first Youth Test against England in Derby. He backed that up with impressive performances at home, scoring 315 runs - with a highest of 105 - as Australia Under-19s were thrashed 5-0. Another century followed in the Youth Test against Bangladesh, and he carried that form into the triangular tournament in Sri Lanka in 2008, which Pakistan won. He made it to the Pakistan Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka the following year despite not being in the probables. A century in the tour game against the visitors changed his fortunes. He returned to the Under-19 circuit to represent Pakistan in the World Cup in New Zealand.

Ahmed Shehzad (born 23 November 1991 in Lahore) is a Pakistani cricketer. He plays domestic cricket for Habib Bank Limited. He made his one-day international debut for Pakistan on 24 April 2009 against Australia.

His 167 in the same year helped Pakistan chase down a stiff 342 in the first Youth Test against England in Derby. He backed that up with impressive performances at home, scoring 315 runs - with a highest of 105 - as Australia Under-19s were thrashed 5-0.

Another century followed in the Youth Test against Bangladesh, and he carried that form into the triangular tournament in Sri Lanka in 2008, which Pakistan won. He made it to the Pakistan Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka the following year despite not being in the probables.

A century in the tour game against the visitors changed his fortunes. He returned to the Under-19 circuit to represent Pakistan in the World Cup in New Zealand.

Ahmed Shehzad aims to be an aggressive batsman like Ricky Ponting, and he is well on his way if his top-order performances for Pakistan Under-19s are any indication. Shehzad made his first-class debut in January 2007, just two months after his 15th birthday, and has since established himself as an opening batsman for the U-19 team. His 167 in the same year helped Pakistan chase down a stiff 342 in the first Youth Test against England in Derby. He backed that up with impressive performances at home, scoring 315 runs - with a highest of 105 - as Australia Under-19s were thrashed 5-0. Another century followed in the Youth Test against Bangladesh, and he carried that form into the triangular tournament in Sri Lanka in 2008, which Pakistan won. He made it to the Pakistan Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka the following year despite not being in the probables. A century in the tour game against the visitors changed his fortunes. He returned to the Under-19 circuit to represent Pakistan in the World Cup in New Zealand.

Ahmed Shehzad aims to be an aggressive batsman like Ricky Ponting, and he is well on his way if his top-order performances for Pakistan Under-20s are any indication. Shehzad made his first-class debut in January 2007, just two months after his 15th birthday, and has since established himself as an opening batsman for the U-19 team. His 167 in the same year helped Pakistan chase down a stiff 342 in the first Youth Test against England in Derby. He backed that up with impressive performances at home, scoring 315 runs – with a highest of 105 – as Australia Under-19s were thrashed 5-0. Another century followed in the Youth Test against Bangladesh, and he carried that form into the triangular tournament in Sri Lanka in 2008, which Pakistan won. He made it to the Pakistan Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka the following year despite not being in the probables. A century in the tour game against the visitors changed his fortunes. He returned to the Under-20 circuit to represent Pakistan in the World Cup in New Zealand.

Ahmad Shehzad is one among the many Pakistani openers known for their free stroking abilities and aggressive batting techniques. His introduction to competitive cricket came at the early age of 15 when he made his first class debut. He went on to be a regular opener for his side Lahore and also got a chance to play for the Pakistani national Under 19 side, where he enjoyed tremendous success. With strong performances in domestic cricket, a national call up was only a matter of time as Pakistani side struggled to find stable openers. Shehzad found himself making his debut against Australia in April 2009, but he was in and out of the team for lack of consistency. Despite not having a great start, Shehzad was picked in the squad for the 2009 World T20 Championships, but he got only one game.

For the next one year, he remained in the sidelines as Pakistan continued their search for a stable opener. His big break came in New Zealand in 2010, where he made his first T20 international half century. The knock helped him gain a spot in the ODI leg of the tour, and this time he grabbed it with both hands as he scored an aggressive 115 to bring up his maiden ODI century. The good show earned him a place in the squad for the World Cup, but Shehzad failed to impress. He managed to retain his spot for the West Indies tour that followed, and even brought up his 2nd ODI century there, but was left out of the squad for the tour of Zimbabwe.

He played well in the ODI series against South Africa in late 2013 by scoring consecutive fifties in the UAE, but was not able to convert good starts into a big one. When Pakistan toured South Africa immediately after that, Shehzad hit a brilliant 102 at Port Elizabeth. His strong performance continued even against Sri Lanka scoring another century and a fifty in the 5-match series. Shehzad played an integral part in giving good starts to Pakistan in the 2013 Asia Cup but unfortunately failed to make a mark in the final against Sri Lanka. Shehzad also scored a hundred against Bangladesh in the 2014 T20 WC, but Pakistan were knocked out in the group stages.

Shehzad had to wait for almost 5 years to play his first Test, even though he made his ODI and T20I debut in 2009, he only got his first Test cap in December 2013. Shehzad took Tests like fish does to water. In only his third Test, he scored his maiden ton against Sri Lanka and and accumulate 693 runs in the 8 Tests he played in 2014. He scored hundreds against Australia and New Zealand, but had to miss two Tests against New Zealand after being struck on the head by a Corey Anderson bouncer. He returned in the subsequent ODI series and smashed his 6th ODI century in the third game. Shehzad is an integral part of the team that was picked for the 2015 World Cup.

Interesting Stat: Shehzad became the only Pakistani player to score a hundred in all three forms of the game, when he scored an unbeaten 111 against Bangladesh in the T20 WC.

Shehzad made his debut for Pakistan in a one-day international against Australia on 29 April 2009. In his maiden match he scored one boundary before he was run-out. The following match he scored 40 in an innings that included 4 fours. The third match he scored 43 but this time just scored 2 fours and in the final match of the series he scored 19 with 1 boundary to his name before he was given out leg-before.

These consistent performances meant that Shehzad made his Twenty20 debut against Australia scoring a single boundary before being caught in the deep. Despite a failure in the Twenty20 Shehzad was selected for the Pakistan squad in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 he only played one-game which was the opening game against England being caught by Paul Collingwood Pakistan changed their combination removing Shehzad and his partner Salman Butt and replaced them with Shahzaib Hasan and Kamran

In limited-overs domestic cricket Ahmed Shehzad plays for Lahore Lions and in June 2011 during the Faysal Bank T-20 Super Eights Shehzad top scored the innings by scoring 74 of 47 balls imposing a mammoth total of 218 against the opposition Sialkot Stallions who in turn were bowled out for 173 Shehzad took two-catches and a wicket as well he was rewarded man-of the match for his superb performances.