Mohammed Nawaz: 'I have a chance to do well, do something memorable for my country'

By July last year, Mohammad Nawaz was focused on the T20 leagues circuit. The 31-year-old's international career had bottomed out. His last international match had come 18 months ago. The likes of Abrar Ahmed and left-arm wristspinner Sufiyan Muqeem offered more mystery and were starting to grab their chances. And yet six months later, here we were sitting at a café in a hotel in Sylhet during the BPL, talking about a remarkable turnaround that saw Nawaz end 2025 as the joint-highest T20I wicket-taker among Full Members.

Nawaz's 36 wickets at 13.61 were slightly more expensive than Varun Chakravarthy's but he was also half-a-run cheaper per over with an economy of 6.56. Nawaz also equaled Shaheen Shah Afridi's record - from 2024 - of the most T20I wickets for Pakistan in a calendar year.

The way Nawaz tells the story of how his fortunes turned in July last year, with a recall for the tour of Bangladesh, he is convinced higher forces were in play.

"I was picked in the CPL in July and was preparing to play in the franchise leagues," Nawaz said. "Shadab [Khan] got injured so I was chosen as his replacement. It was not in my plan, but when I was picked in the Pakistan team, I didn't think I would perform in this way. I didn't predict that the rest of my year would go like this, with so many outstanding performances. Obviously, our elders say that Allah always has a better plan than us humans. His plan is the best."

So well have these last six months gone, that he has lived up to Babar Azam's viral proclamation from the 2022 T20 World Cup when, straight after a heartbreaking loss to India in which Nawaz was a key figure, he told Nawaz post-match in the dressing room that he was his "matchwinner". He is now about to play his second T20 World Cup and, as one of the first names in the Pakistan XI, is feeling optimistic.

Pakistan have warmed up well, with a drawn T20I series in Sri Lanka - great for a conditions recce - and a clean sweep of Australia at home, which Nawaz ended with a second five-wicket haul since his return. "It is our best chance," he says. "We have a good combination according to conditions in Sri Lanka. We have played a lot of good cricket leading up to the World Cup."

It's all a very different mood to the 2022 tournament, when a single over nearly derailed his international career.

In the dramatic final throes of the India-Pakistan game at the MCG, Babar, then captain, handed the ball to Nawaz, whose previous over, half an hour earlier, had gone for 20 runs.

India needed 16 off the last over but Virat Kohli was bristling, having struck Haris Rauf for a once-in-a-generation six in the previous over. Nawaz decided to bowl medium pace, with the wicketkeeper back. He ended up bowling nine balls in total.

He picked up two wickets but was erratic, bowling wides and one very costly no-ball. Ultimately, R Ashwin hit him inside-out over mid-off for the winning runs of a remarkable game. It hurt Nawaz more than Pakistan, who made it to the final. Nawaz only bowled only five more overs in the rest of the campaign, and none in the final. He played just five T20Is over the following 15 months.

He understands what he is about to face from February 7, when Pakistan take on Netherlands in their World Cup opener, and he reckons he is prepared for it.

"There is pressure to win bilateral matches but when you play in the World Cup, the 'World Cup' tag comes with the territory, so it adds to the overall pressure," he says. "A player must know how to handle that pressure.

"Obviously, it's a big event. The whole world will be watching. The player gets a chance to define his career. There have been instances when a player's career got finished at the World Cup but generally it has the potential to boost someone's career.

"You are highlighted [much more] in a World Cup, so I want to think positively. I have a chance to do well in front of everyone, and do something memorable for my country."

The big change in Nawaz's bowling over the last seven months has been the pace. He has mixed up his pace better and, on average, bowled significantly slower than before, allowing the ball to rip.

There has been a 4kph drop in his average speeds pre-2025 (down from 92kph to 88kph). Over 80% of his deliveries since 2025 have been under 90kph, compared to just 30% before.

"The coaches have told me that I am varying my pace in the last few months," he said. "Obviously when you are bowling slowly, you give the ball a chance to turn. The cricket these days has become rapid, so when a spinner comes under pressure, he starts to bowl quickly.

"A delivery with more pace comes nicely on to the bat. I try to deceive the batter in my flight, by bowling it slower. I try to read the game situation, where it is headed, what the batter is thinking, and I vary my pace accordingly."

After his comeback against Bangladesh in July, he was adjudged the Player of the Series in taking seven wickets against West Indies. Then he took his maiden five-wicket haul in T20Is in the tri-series final in Sharjah, as part of ten wickets overall, followed by another 10-wicket tri-series at home in November.

Nawaz said that Pakistan's white-ball coach, Mike Hesson, has had an influence on his recent upturn, especially in the clarity with which he has identified exact roles in the team. Hesson tweeted in September that Nawaz was the "best spinner in the world".

"Mike Hesson is a very positive coach. I played under him for Islamabad United during last season's PSL. He provides clarity to each player, which makes life easier for the players. He tells players [their] role in the team. What is expected of him. When a player knows these things, it becomes easier to focus on his role."

And Nawaz is clear that Hesson's methods are working for the team. "We won two tri-series, and another bilateral series. We were in the Asia Cup final. We have had good results under Mike Hesson. I think he is trying to expand the players pool, to give youngsters more chance.

"There is a gulf between the domestic and international game in Pakistan, so I think he is trying to bridge that gap for young cricketers. They need to know how to carry themselves at the highest level. I think it is positive to see that Hesson is bringing up young performers to see how cricket is played in the Pakistan team."

As we wound down the interview in Sylhet, Nawaz shared a laugh with the Rajshahi Warriors' media manager about the number of interviews he was lined up for that afternoon. Nawaz is a soft-spoken person but has that distinct sense of humour famous with left-arm spinners: dry and witty.

He ribbed me about an error in the ESPNcricinfo scorecard from a BPL game, where he was given the incorrect number of overs bowled.

But he is locked in mentally in terms of preparation for this T20 World Cup. It is his shot at redemption, from a point where career nearly ended. The way Nawaz has resurrected himself in the eight months leading up to this year's T20 World Cup, Pakistan will pin considerable hopes on his left-arm. A bagful of wickets or an influential performance will round off a significant success story, and one that has the potential to spur Pakistan's push for the trophy after 17 years.