Thaindian News

Islamabad, April 9(ANI): Uncapped Pakistan batsman Usman Salahuddin, who has been selected for the upcoming limited-overs series against the West Indies, has said it is a dream come true for him to be given such an opportunity at the young age of 20.

“It’s a dream come true - I was simply overjoyed and couldn’t believe it. I had absolutely no idea that I would be selected for the tour, I was in fact playing a match at the time when I was informed that my name had come up for selection,” PakPassion.net quoted Usman, as saying.

“It is a dream for any player to represent their country, and I consider myself extremely lucky to be given an opportunity at such a young age. I’m extremely thankful to the selectors, and Inshallah will definitely perform if I am given a chance,” he added.

When asked about what he was hoping to learn on the Caribbean tour, Usman had clear goals in mind.

“I have much to learn, as there a lot of senior players such as Misbah bhai, Shahid [Afridi] bhai and Hafeez bhai on the tour as well. They are senior players and will lend a lot of support, as they have other young players like Asad Shafiq and Umar Akmal,” he said.

Usman, who has scored five hundreds and eight fifties in just 24 matches at a healthy average of 41.8 in his first-class career so far, expressed confidence that he would be able to cope up with the rigors of top-level cricket.

“I think I am quite well-prepared, I have made runs on pitches that were very fast, and have played against a lot of strong bowling attacks, such as KRL [Khan Research Laboratories] for example. They have one of the toughest bowling attacks in Pakistani domestic cricket, and I made 141 against them, as well as that knock in the One Day Cup final. So I am quite confident of doing well,” he maintained. (ANI)