Burst from obscurity to break many long standing records in a remarkable debut year of first class cricket, at the age of 23 Sohail Khan appears to be another promising fast bowling prospect for Pakistan.

 

Based in Karachi but originally from Malakand, NWFP, Sohail was first noticed during a speed bowling camp held by Sikhandar Bhakt where he would attain the third fastest delivery in the competition. Khan made his debut for Sui Southern Gas Company in the 2007/08 team and made an instant impact with 5 for 58 on debut.

 

He continued to impress through the competition with his pace and wicket taking ability, however it was in the final match in which he made the greatest impact breaking Fazal Mahmood long standing record, with a best ever match bowling figures in Pakistan domestic cricket - 16/189 against WAPDA. That performance thrust him into the limelight of the selectors and in January 2008 was called up to the ODI side against Zimbabwe in which he made his debut in the fourth game of the series. Although he took but a solitary wicket in a rather uneventful performance, there was still enough in his displays to date to receive favourable mention from the likes of Wasim and Waqar.

 

Later in April 2008, he once more got a chance to represent Pakistan when he was named in the squad for the home ODI series against Bangladesh, again performances were mixed, but picking up three wickets in his final and most impressive match made him a contender for forthcoming squads. He finally made his long awaited Test debut against Sri Lanka at his home ground in Karachi. He finished the match bowling 27 overs for not a single wicket and was told to work on his action and run-up in domestic cricket.

 

Sohail has since dropped off the radar of selectors and has been struggling to keep himself match-fit. With others bowlers such as Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, and Asad Ali moving ahead of him in the pecking order, Sohail will need to make a big splash in domestic cricket as he did on debut to attract the attention of the selectors again.

 

It is not only on the field where things began to go wrong for Sohail Khan but off the field as well.  He got himself banned to play any domestic game for Karachi for 12 months in April of 2013 because of criticising his coach during the Super Eight T20-Cup alongside two of his other teammates.