Faisal was a key member of the winning Sindh team, and in an exclusive chat with PakPassion.net, spoke about the tournament and his hopes for making yet another comeback to the Pakistan team.

by Ahmed Zulfiqar

06 April 2011

The 2010-2011 Faysal Bank Pentangular Cup tournament proved to be yet another engaging and hotly-contested affair. The crème de la crème of the Pakistani domestic circuit took part, and the competition once again threw up some familiar names leading the batting and bowling charts. One such name is discarded middle-order batsman Faisal Iqbal.

Faisal was a key member of the winning Sindh team, and in an exclusive chat with PakPassion.net, spoke about the tournament and his hopes for making yet another comeback to the Pakistan team.

The 29 year old right-handed batsman from Karachi had a very good tournament, stroking 324 runs in eight innings, including a match-winning 118 against Khyber-Pukhtoonkhwa. Naturally, Faisal was optimistic about his chances for a recall to the national set-up. 

“I have put the ball in the selectors' court, my performances speak for themselves. I have been wrongfully labelled a Test specialist, but still I reinvented myself and made a mindset for, and showed performance in, all formats of the game. It is now up to the selectors to view me as a senior batsman. My level of experience and performances for Pakistan in the past are there for all to see, and I have shown this level of responsibility for Sindh in the Pentangular Cup as well”, he stated.

“The best thing is that these performances have been seen by the selectors themselves in the ground, so I am very hopeful Inshallah of making a comeback. Other seniors such as Misbah and Younis Khan have made a comeback to the team, so I am also very hopeful to do so as well.”

The pitches and level of competition in Pakistani domestic cricket has always been a hotly debated issue. Recently discarded players tend to give outstanding performances in first-class cricket, but fail to reproduce the same form at international level. New entrants to the Pakistan side get their chance based on strong domestic performances, but tend to be brutally exposed and appear to be not ready for the step up to international level. Faisal however, did not agree with this and clarified the issue. 

“The Pentangular Cup has always been a highly-rated tournament for me. Imran Khan himself always rated this tournament highly; he was very much in favour of such a tournament with the top 75 players in the country competing in five very strong teams”, said Faisal.

“The matches were played on purely green top wickets, which were very bowler-friendly and were a big test of a batsman's nerves, ability and talent. After playing on these wickets, I felt that I had become a mature batsman and I personally judge myself as a very secure batsman. My performances on such green-tops speak for themselves.” 

Although Faisal remains cautiously optimistic of a call by the national selectors, he added this plea for a fairer consideration at the highest levels “I have performed well in ODI Cup, scored 320 runs and was the third highest scoring batsmen there, as well as being the fourth highest run getter in the Pentangular Cup. I have showed once again that I can perform well in all forms as a senior player. My batting form, fitness and fielding abilities have been excellent – all I need now is support and fair consideration by PCB administration, National selectors, coach and the Pakistan Captain”.