Mohammad Nawaz

Coming from Shoaib Akhtar’s town, Mohammad Nawaz, a spinning allrounder, started as a left-arm medium-fast bowler, but his career took a different turn. He is a quality three-format player for Pakistan who was earmarked to be the next big thing at the junior level and played a pivotal role during the 2012 Under-19 World Cup. 

Born in Rawalpindi, Nawaz’ domestic career started with the National Bank of Pakistan. He made his first-class and List A debut in the 2012 season, after the Junior World Cup in Australia. It took the allrounder a tally of 1440 runs and 44 wickets off his first four seasons, to find his way into the national team. Meanwhile, he also represented Quetta Gladiators during the inaugural season of the PSL where he finished as the competition’s third-highest wicket-taker. 

Nawaz was picked in the T20 squad for the 2016 Asia Cup, held in Bangladesh. The all-rounder made his T20I debut against UAE. A few months later, the allrounder made his ODI debut against Ireland to score his maiden fifty and bag the figures of 1 for 14. Later that season, he made his Test debut against the West Indies in the UAE and was dropped from the Test side after the three-match series. 

Despite losing his spot from the Test side, the all-rounder became an integral part of the white-ball setup, until early 2017. After the emergence of players like Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim, Nawaz saw losing his way out of the national team and was dropped from the Pakistan squad that won the Champions Trophy, later that year.  

Nawaz was again included in the national side when World XI led by Faf du Plessis toured Pakistan in September 2017. However, the allrounder has been irregular since then, before he was again brought back during the white-ball series against South Africa in 2021. Over the years, Nawaz has also been a consistent performer in the PSL where he represents the Quetta-based franchise, since the maiden season. 

(As of May 2021)