Khushdil Shah

Khushdil Shah announced himself as one of Pakistan domestic cricket's premier white-ball power hitters during the 2020 National T20 Cup, smashing a 35-ball 100. He'd played a solitary T20I a year earlier, and had been around on the domestic circuit for half a decade, but it was after this knock that his appearances in Pakistan's T20I side became more frequent.

A player partial to the on side, Khushdil is possessed of a solid power game, though his lack of consistency saw him drop in and out of the Pakistan team, whose demands for a player of his kind waxed and waned with the seasons. His orthodox left-arm offspin gave him an added route into sides, though it is a skill he has arguably allowed to atrophy, which too led Pakistan to turn to the less explosive Mohammad Nawaz more frequently instead.

At his best, Khushdil showed he could be a formidable allrounder, as in the 2022 PSL, where he found himself among the leading wicket-takers and sloggers for Multan Sultans en route to the final. It led to his most extensive run in the national side, though that did not produce the substantial batting contributions Pakistan looked to him for, with just three scores over 30 in his first 40-odd T20I matches, spread over six years.

A handful of ODIs produced similar results. Khushdil was called up to the national side after a three-year gap, ahead of Pakistan's ill-fated 2025 Champions Trophy campaign at home. He was, during the team's brief stay in the tournament, their highest run-scorer, with a half-century against New Zealand and a rearguard 38 versus India.