An aggressive left handed opening batsman and also a part time leg-break bowler, Sharjeel Khan has continued to impress all since his T20 debut in 2006 for the Hyderabad Hawks. Since that game, his career has continued in an upward trajectory where he was part of the bronze medal winning Pakistan team at the 2010 Asian Games in China and culminated in his T20I debut in December of 2013 against Afghanistan. To date, Sharjeel has represented Pakistan in 11 ODIs and 3 T20Is in which has scored 194 and 102 runs respectively.

Speaking exclusively to PakPassion.net, the twenty-five year old batsman spoke about efforts to regain his spot in the national team, the advice he received from Misbah-ul-Haq and the experience of playing alongside high quality international players as well as his views on the structure of domestic cricket.

PakPassion.net : Your international career started so well, but now you find yourself on the sidelines, where do you think it went wrong?

Sharjeel Khan : Yes it's disappointing, particularly given the fact that I've only been given the opportunity to play three Twenty20 internationals and in my last T20I I made fifty from only 25 balls. So, yes that's rather puzzling. Even in the fifty over format I was getting starts and it was really only the last three matches against Sri Lanka that I failed. Nine of my eleven one day internationals were against Sri Lanka and I wasn't a complete disaster, as I say it was the last three where it went wrong. I don't think there were any major technical issues in the last few ODIs that I have played, rather it was perhaps a loss of form which happens to everyone in cricket.


PakPassion.net : You've been playing some club cricket in the UAE recently, how did that go?

Sharjeel Khan : Yes it went very well. It was a twenty over tournament which featured, Pakistani players as well as international players from UAE. I won player of the series and best player of the tournament and it was great to be out there scoring runs and hitting the ball nicely.


PakPassion.net : You played under a few captains for Pakistan. Critics say Misbah-ul-Haq is a cautious captain, did he suggest to you to play carefully and cautiously?

Sharjeel Khan : Misbah said to me to play in the way that had made me reach international cricket. He said to me to play to my strengths and there was no need for me to change my approach to batting. He also said to me to bat as if I was playing in domestic cricket and to go for my shots and play my natural game. Other senior players like Shahid Afridi were also very supportive. Mohammad Hafeez, who I batted with in the twenty over format, was also very supportive and offered a lot of advice.


PakPassion.net : Do you believe that Pakistan's domestic cricket circuit is preparing cricketers adequately for the demands of international cricket?

Sharjeel Khan : There's a huge difference between our domestic cricket and international cricket. One of the biggest issues I feel is the constant changes in the structure of domestic cricket and the lack of stability. In my opinion departments should play against departments and regional teams should play against other regional teams. We need some stability in the structure and at least four or five seasons of the same set-up rather than chopping and changing. I think it would also help us produce more robust and better cricketers if we ensured the best teams such as the departmental teams played against one another. At the moment there are too many one-sided matches and it will also be damaging the confidence of the players from the regional teams.


PakPassion.net : Do you think it's tougher for players from outside the main cities in Pakistan like Lahore, Karachi and Sialkot, to be noticed and selected.

Sharjeel Khan : Yes absolutely. I'm from Hyderabad and played for them for the first two seasons of my career before moving to ZTBL. I think it would have been very tough for me to play for Pakistan if I had stayed at Hyderabad. Thankfully though, I have been one of the leading run-scorers in domestic cricket in the past few seasons and that naturally helps with being spotted and noticed by the national selectors.


PakPassion.net : Is it fair to say you needed to go back to basics after being dropped by Pakistan?

Sharjeel Khan : It's a new scenario for me wherein I have played international cricket and then been dropped so I have to live with it and come to terms with it. I don't think I needed a major overhaul of my batting, rather a few things needed tweaking here and there. This is why I spent six or seven weeks in UAE working on my batting and playing in a couple of tournaments there. I've also had the opportunity to play on surfaces at Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi where Pakistan play a lot of their home matches. In addition I've spoken at length with Moin Khan about my batting and also my domestic coach at ZTBL Wajahatullah Wasti and both have offered me some excellent advice.

When you reach international cricket, you obviously know the basics of cricket. What you need to do is to polish your cricket and ensure that you get rid of those rough edges and that is what I am intending to do.

The next three months are very important for me as during this period I intend to continue my preparations for the upcoming domestic season and particularly work on my fitness levels.


PakPassion.net : Speaking of fitness levels, the Chairman of the PCB made some hard hitting comments about the levels of fitness of Pakistani cricketers, do you agree with his comments?

Sharjeel Khan : I agree wholeheartedly with the Chairman's comments. There is no excuse for poor levels of fitness especially for the Lahore-based players who have the National Cricket Academy on their doorstep. The Lahore boys should be super-fit. The facilities at the NCA are superb and it's something that us players from outside Lahore don't have access to on a regular basis. We only get access to such facilities from time to time when camps are held. Perhaps there is a need for facilities such as the NCA to be built in other cities around Pakistan and I definitely think it would help the players from outside Lahore.


PakPassion.net : I guess there were mixed emotions for you during the Pakistan home series against Zimbabwe?

Sharjeel Khan : Firstly it was great to see international cricket return to Pakistan, but as you have stated I would have loved to have been part of the series. Cricket remains a sport very dear to the hearts of the Pakistani people and its popularity has remained despite there being no international cricket in Pakistan for six years. I guess it wasn't meant to be that I would be playing against Zimbabwe and at the end of the day there wasn't much I could do about it. However, with international cricket hopefully returning to Pakistan on a regular basis, players on the sidelines like myself are even more eager to return to the Pakistan team.

The wickets were so flat in the series against Zimbabwe that I was scolding myself for not being there opening the batting for Pakistan.


PakPassion.net :What are your thoughts on the quality of cricketers coming through the Pakistan domestic system?

Sharjeel Khan : Departmental cricket is intense and very tough in Pakistan. The departments don't spare any expenses and ultimately the best players will end up playing for one of the departments. When you play against another departmental team, you know that you are in a match and at the end of the game you know that it was a tough workout for both teams. The quality of the cricket played by departmental teams is of a very high standard irrespective of whether it's the twenty over format, fifty over or four day cricket.


PakPassion.net :There's a lot of competition now for the opening spots for Pakistan. Do you think you can get ahead of your rivals and claim a place back in the Pakistan team?

Sharjeel Khan : I have belief in my ability and I am very hopeful. The key is to score lots of runs in the upcoming domestic season. Yes, the competition for places is very tough and there are a lot of good opening batsmen around in Pakistan at the moment but my focus is on making lots of runs and ensuring that the selectors take note of my performances.


PakPassion.net :Do you think Pakistani cricket followers have seen the best of you in international cricket yet?

Sharjeel Khan : My best is yet to come in international cricket. I don't think I have done myself justice when playing for Pakistan and only showed glimpses of what I can do. However to settle into international cricket you need to have an extended run in the team as it takes all players a bit of time to settle into the demands of international cricket. The pressures imposed by international cricket are obviously greater than domestic cricket but you need some backing and faith in your ability from the selectors to perform. Of course playing at home against the likes of Zimbabwe can provide players with a huge confidence boost and international cricket is all about confidence.

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