Haris Sohail

A left-handed middle-order batsman and a handy slow left-arm orthodox, Haris Sohail has been a regular member of the Pakistan national team for the past few years.

The allrounder played his junior cricket for Sialkot and after scoring a century in the finals of U-19 for Sialkot, he was called up for the senior side. He made his first-class debut against Karachi Whites on November 7, 2007. The cricketer finally established himself in the domestic stage in the 2011-12 first-class season when he scored 654 runs in 12 games with a personal best of 211.

After a dominating domestic season, Sohail got his chance in the limited-overs format for their Twenty20 International series against Sri Lanka but he wasn’t picked in the playing XI. The batter’s diurnal grind in domestic cricket earned him a place in Pakistan’s ODI and T20I squads for the tour of West Indies in 2013 but after a few failures, he was dropped instantly.

A year later, Sohail made an inspiring comeback as a dependable middle-order batsman for the squad in the five-match series against New Zealand in UAE. His innings of 85 not out in the first ODI in a tense run-chase turned out to be a match-winning knock.

Sohail’s comeback showed his temperament and batting style when he amassed 235 runs in five matches at an average of 58.75 and snapped 6 wickets, which compelled the national selectors to award him a place in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. On September 28, 2017, Sohail was rewarded with his first Test cap for the Men in Green against Sri Lanka. After a year of making a name for himself in red-ball cricket, Sohail hit his maiden Test century against Australia scoring 110 in a hard-fought Test series against Aussies. His impressive series against Australia in March 2019 in UAE caught the eyes of the selectors for the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. 

Known for his calculative shots and rotating the strike more often than not, Sohail smashed 59 balls 89 in the second match of Pakistan in the World Cup against South Africa showing his other side of the game.

His left-arm spin bowling exceeded the initial expectations and with proper grooming, he could be a valuable asset adding balance to the national side in the upcoming years of limited-overs cricket.

(As of March 2021)