DERBY: Pakistan's young pace sensation Zaman Khan wishes to feature in this year's World Cup in India.
Zaman, who is currently playing for Toronto Nationals in the Global T20 Canada, did well for Derbyshire in the Vitality T20 Blast. Zaman took 25 wickets at an average of 16.55 in 14 Vitality Blast games. He remained fourth-highest wicket-taker in the event.
"I always think that since I have been doing so well in big games under pressure situations so if I get a chance to play in the world cup, all these experiences of handling the crunch moments will help me to perform at my best during such a huge tournament," the young bowler said.
Zaman Khan feels very lucky that he got a chance to work closely with Mickey Arthur, who is also the Pakistan team director, in Derbyshire.
"Mickey Arthur was very happy about my performance in the Blast. He always backed me up and kept on telling me that for him I’m a match-winner," shared Zaman.
The young bowler, who played an important role in Lahore Qalandars' twin PSL titles, shared his cool moments with fellow countryman Haider Ali.
"I and Haider had some really good time, we were living together and used to share our game knowledge with each other like what to do in different situations and how to secure runs or how to bowl to the opposition," he recalled.
"He took great care of me while we were together. I call him 'Ammi' (Mother) as he used to cook fresh food for me whenever I wanted. His specialty was a very delicious meat curry," he added.
Zaman rated his senior pacer Shaheen Afridi under whom he played two seasons of PSL.
“I think fast bowlers generally don’t support another fast bowler a lot. But the way Shaheen Afridi has supported me, in my opinion, no other fast bowler in the world did to any fellow pacer. I would request Shaheen to keep supporting me like this," he concluded.
Imran Munawar