Pakistan news - Salman Agha responds to Test axing with triple century

Salman Agha made his return to domestic first-class cricket memorable by smashing an unbeaten 300 off 336 balls for Kingsmen Academy against Markhor IT Solutions at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium in the first round of the President’s Trophy. He recorded his highest first-class score, surpassing his previous of 169, a fortnight after he was sent home from England amidst a controversial shake-up to the Test team and credited his innings to “adjustments” he made to his game.

“My form in international cricket has not been up to the mark in the last few series,” he said in a video released by the PCB. “You make adjustments which can be very helpful [in regaining the form]. I also made slight adjustments to my batting, which has helped me a lot … I am very happy because such milestones are once in a lifetime.”

Agha has struggled for runs in international cricket of late as he accumulated only 45 runs across five innings in the last three Tests before he was dropped for the Lord’s Test, the second of the three-Test series which Pakistan lost to England 3-0. In the first Test at Headingley he stood in for Babar Azam after a finger injury ruled Babar of the contest but made way for him at Lord’s and was eventually axed from the touring party along with six other players and coaches Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul after Pakistan lost both the Tests.

Pakistan’s defeat at Edgbaston was their 16th in the last 21 matches. They find themselves at the bottom of the nine-team World Test Championship table, which is where they had finished the last cycle as well. Such a slide has led to calls from all quarters, including the PCB selectors, for the players to feature regularly in Pakistan’s domestic first-class cricket.

In the newly introduced central-contracts, the PCB has made it mandatory for the A (Test specialists) and AB (Test and ODI specialists) to play at least six and four domestic first-class matches each year. Agha had played only three first-class matches in the last three years. Shaheen Shah Afridi, who had not played a domestic first-class fixture in Pakistan since 2019, is another prominent cricketer returning to a domestic first-class tournament. He is playing for Khan Research Laboratories against Ghani at Imran Khan Stadium in Peshawar.

Reflecting on the significance of being a regular in first-class cricket, Agha said: “It is very important for an international cricketer to play domestic cricket and I think every cricketer should play domestic cricket when he gets an opportunity. That’s what I do and I feel very good to be back in the domestic circuit.”

Agha’s mammoth knock propelled his team to 565 for 7 declared. However, it came against a team that lacked international bowling experience as both the teams in this match made their first-class debuts after earning promotion last year. But staying in for a longer period is bound to help Agha regain confidence as the most number of balls he has faced in an innings in the last three Tests was in the second innings at Tarouba, where he faced 60 deliveries to score 20.

His presence in the team in which Muhammad Huraira is the only other Test cricketer is also bound to help them and it was at display during his 274-run stand for the fourth-wicket with Mohammad Suleman which helped Kingsmen Academy recover from 72 for 3. Suleman, a 27-year-old cricketer from Hyderabad with the experience of 28 first-class matches, went on to register his sixth century.

“I like to play domestic cricket and I enjoy coming back to it as I had spent 10 years here before graduating to the top level,” Agha said. “We were in a tricky spot with three down for 72 and I spoke to Suleman that we should look for a partnership as these are conditions in which we can post a big score if we stay in for a longer period. I was looking to stitch partnerships with the batters which came in after him. I was not really looking for a milestone or centuries, rather I was focused on what was at hand and was concentrating on every ball.

“I dedicate this innings to my family. My form has not been good and it was a challenging time, so I dedicate this innings to them.”

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