PakPassion.net has learnt that Pakistan's swashbuckling Twenty/20 opener Imran Nazir could be playing in the Friends Provident Twenty/20 competition in England this summer, provided he is awarded a central contract by the PCB.

By: "ShehryarK"

14 March 2010

PakPassion.net has learnt that Pakistan's swashbuckling Twenty/20 opener Imran Nazir, surprisingly overlooked for the Twenty/20 World Cup squad, could be playing in the Friends Provident Twenty/20 competition in England this summer, provided he is awarded a central contract by the PCB.

Speaking exclusively to PakPassion.net, Imran Nazir's manager Umran Khan of Aces Middle East has confirmed that two English county teams are chasing Imran's signature for this summer’s English domestic T20 competition. Imran, who is renowned for his acrobatic fielding and hard-hitting batting in limited overs cricket, is unable to sign-up for either of the two counties as he does not meet the requirement of having played a minimum of 15 international matches in the last two years.

There is hope for Imran yet, though, as the 15 match requirement would be waived if he is awarded a central contract by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the current year. His manager Umran Khan confirmed this to PakPassion.net, stating "Imran is hopeful that a deal can be sorted out once the central contracts are announced by the PCB".

Imran Nazir is considered a Twenty/20 specialist, and has played 39 Twenty/20 matches so far in his career, with an excellent T/20 batting average of 31 runs per innings. He also has the distinction of having the third-highest strike rate in the short history of the Twenty/20 format for all batsmen with 500 or more runs. Imran's impressive T/20 career strike rate of 161 runs for every 100 balls faced is second to only two other players: Australia's Andrew Symonds and India's Yousuf Pathan, and Imran's career record in this format is thus significantly ahead of many renowned Twenty/20 players, including Virender Sehwag, Kieron Pollard, Ross Taylor, Ally Brown, Shahid Afridi and Dave Warner.

All of this makes Imran's exclusion from the Twenty/20 World Cup squad very surprising, given the dearth of genuine T20 opening options in the chosen squad.

Given his proven track-record in this format at domestic T/20, his exploits with previous Twenty/20 teams including Sialkot Stallions and the ICL's Lahore Badshahs, and his hard-hitting batting style, he is bound to become a fans’ favourite if he meets the requirements for an English county contract this summer.