Saud Shakeel (born 5 September 1995) is a Pakistani international cricketer who is the current vice-captain of the Pakistan cricket team in test cricket. He made his international and ODI debut for the Pakistan cricket team in July 2021. [1] [2] He made his Test debut against England in December 2022. [3] He played at the 2014 U-19 World Cup,where he captained the team. [4] In July 2023,he became the first Pakistani batsman to score a Test double century in Sri Lanka against the hosts. [5]
Saud Shakeel was born in September 1995 in Karachi and spent much of his early life in the Sagheer Centre of the Federal B. Area. [6]
In 2007,Saud came to the attention of Azam Khan,then manager of Quetta Gladiators and unrelated to Moin Khan's son. [6] Through a connection with Saud's uncle,Azam introduced him,then a sixth-grade student at The Crescent Academy,to several cricket academies. [6] After a tepid response from these academies,Azam integrated Saud into practice sessions where he faced players such as Rumman Raees,Anwar Ali,and Tabish Khan. [6] This led to Saud's association with the Pakistan Cricket Club and mentorship from international cricketers such as Sarfaraz Ahmed and Asad Shafiq. [6]
He made his first-class debut on 26 October 2015 in the 2015–16 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. [7] In November 2017,he was selected to play for the Quetta Gladiators in 2018 Pakistan Super League players draft. [8]
He was the leading run-scorer for Pakistan Television in the 2017–18 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy,with 488 runs in seven matches. [9] In April 2018,he was named in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's squad for the 2018 Pakistan Cup. [10] [11] He was the leading run-scorer for Pakistan Television in the 2018–19 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy,with 414 runs in five matches. [12]
In December 2018,he was named in Pakistan's team for the 2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup. [13] In March 2019,he was named in Federal Areas' squad for the 2019 Pakistan Cup. [14] [15] In September 2019,he was named in Sindh's squad for the 2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament. [16] [17] In November 2019,he was named as the captain of Pakistan's squad for the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Bangladesh. [18] In December 2020,he was shortlisted as one of the Domestic Cricketers of the Year for the 2020 PCB Awards. [19]
In January 2021,he was named in Pakistan's Test squad for their series against South Africa. [20] [21] In March 2021,he was named in Pakistan's Test and limited overs squads for their tours to South Africa and Zimbabwe. [22] [23] However,he was ruled out of the One Day International (ODI) matches against South Africa due to an injury. [24]
In June 2021,Shakeel was named in Pakistan's Test and ODI squads, [25] for their tours of the West Indies and England respectively. [26] Shakeel made his ODI debut on 8 July 2021,for Pakistan against England. [27] In October 2021,he was named as the captain of the Pakistan Shaheens for their tour of Sri Lanka. [28]
In November 2021,he was named in Pakistan's Test squad for their series against Bangladesh. [29] In February 2022,he was also named in Pakistan's Test squad for their series against Australia. [30] In June 2022,he was named in Pakistan's Test squad for their two-match series in Sri Lanka. [31]
In December 2022,he was selected to play for Pakistan in the Test series against New Zealand. [32] In the second Test,on 4 January 2023,he hit his maiden century in Test cricket, [33] which helped Pakistan to put 400+ runs in the board in reply to New Zealand's 449 in the first innings. [34]
In September 2023,he was named in Pakistan’s fifteen-man squad for the Cricket World Cup 2023 in India,He made his World Cup debut on 6 October 2023 against the Netherlands in which he scored 68 runs in 52 balls,and received man of the match award. [35] He also played a cameo against Sri Lanka in his second match of the World Cup scoring 31 runs off 30 balls. [36] He scored his second fifty of the tournament against South Africa in a losing cause on 27 October as the latter pipped them by just 1 wicket. [37]