Saud Shakeel

Saud Shakeel is an explosive who possesses the elegance and class of a left-handed batter. Born in Karachi, he has emerged from the age-group levels, before representing Pakistan U-19s in the 2014 World Cup. During his junior cricket days, Shakeel relied on compactness but as the game involved, the southpaw too involved his batting and added hard-hitting shots in his arsenal. Apart from being a top-order bat, Shakeel is also a slow left-arm bowler who becomes handy when asked to break partnerships. 

The Karachi-born cricketer started playing cricket for Pakistan Cricket Club, before graduating to play for Karachi U-13s and U-16s, and then he was named to the Pakistan U-19 team. During the U-19 World Cup, Shakeel played six games to score 127 runs. After the ICC event, the left-hander made his domestic debut during the 2015 season and was drafted in the Quetta Gladiators squad for the inaugural edition of the Pakistan Super League. 

However, it was the 2017-18 edition of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy where Shakeel marked his authority and hasn’t dropped a beat since then. The southpaw became the leading run-scorer for two consecutive first-class seasons with scores of 488 and 414 runs respectively, where he smashed 2 tons and 6 fifties. 

In 2018, Shakeel was part of Pakistan’s squad for the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup and captained his team during the next edition, in 2019. In 2020, he was shortlisted as one of the Domestic Cricketers of the Year for the 2020 PCB Awards. Shakeel’s consistent performance in the domestic circles couldn’t be neglected for that long. Hence, he earned his maiden national call-up during the Test tours of South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2021, but he wasn’t lucky enough to make his debut then. 

Later in 2021, the national selectors persisted in Shakeel and named him for the tour to England and West Indies. The all-rounder has done enough in domestic cricket and PSL, now he just needs to replicate the same on the world stage, whenever he gets the opportunity to do so. 

(As of June 2021)