Saud Shakeel

Some Lesser Known Facts About Saud Shakeel

• Shakeel’s cricketing journey started at the age of 11.

• Shakeel considers his maternal uncle as his inspiration behind cricket who pushed him into the sport. Shakeel was introduced to his childhood coach Azam Khan by his maternal uncle who were friends.

• Azam Khan first referred Shakeel to other academies, but when he realized that things were not working out, he called Shakeel back and coached him himself.

• Shakeel grew up idolizing Michael Hussey as his cricketing icon.

• During his initial days at Pakistan Cricket Club, Shakeel was supported by senior players like Sarfaraz Ahmed, Asad Shafiq, and Anwar Ali.

• Shakeel was part of the Pakistan U-19 squad which ended as the runner-up in the U-19 World Cup 2014. He scored a total of 127 runs in all six matches in the tournament with the highest score of 45.

  

• On 26 October 2015, Shakeel made his first-class cricket debut in the 2015–16 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

  

• In November 2017, Quetta Gladiators picked Shakeel in the 2018 Pakistan Super League players’ draft.

• Shakeel considers playing for the Pakistan Television cricket team as a turning point in his career. Shakeel remained the highest scorer in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament for two consecutive seasons  (2017-18 and 2018-19).

• In November 2019, Shakeel was appointed as the captain of Pakistan’s squad for the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Bangladesh.

• Shakeel was shortlisted as one of the Domestic Cricketers of the Year for the 2020 PCB Awards in December 2020.

• Before making his One Day International debut, Shakeel was selected for the ODI series squad against South Africa in March 2021 but was ruled out due to an injury.

• Despite scoring 5 runs on his debut, Shakeel went viral on social media as Virat Kohli’s look-alike. People joked about him as the left-handed Kohli of Pakistan.

  

• Shakeel was appointed as the captain of the Pakistan A cricket team in October 2021 for their tour of Sri Lanka.

  

• Shakeel made his maiden test century against New Zealand on 4 January 2023 at home.

• In July 2023, Shakeel scored his maiden double-century in test cricket against Sri Lanka. He scored 208 runs and led his team to a 4-wicket victory.

  

• In August 2024, during the test match against Bangladesh at home, Shakeel completed 1000 runs in test cricket in 20 innings and equalled the 65-year-old record of Saeed Ahmed to become the joint-fastest Pakistani to achieve this feat.