Qalandars’ find Salman Irshad hopes to play for Pakistan within a year

SHARJAH: Lahore Qalandars fast bowler Salman Irshad expressed his hope to make his place in the national squad within a year.

Though Qalandars lost its game against Islamabad United in a nail-biting super over thriller, Irshad made his presence felt in the match by dismissing former Pakistan Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and hitting a timely six on the first ball of both innings respectively.

Speaking to Geo.tv, the Azad Kashmir-born player said that he would have been more pleased with his performance tonight if Qalandars had won the match, he lamented that the team lost all four ‘winnable’ matches in the tournament.

He said that moment before the match Coach Aqib Javed directed him to play his natural game and bowl on certain specific areas, the fast bowler gave entire credit to the franchise for selecting him in the talent hunt programme held at Kashmir.

“No one has conducted any talent hunt programme in Kashmir before. The management sent me to Australia for further training and matches,” he said.

Irshad claimed that the entire Azad Kashmir must have watched the Qalandar-United encounter. “Even those who don’t watch cricket must have seen it,” he added.

Responding to a question, the fast bowler reiterated that he will further work hard with Aqib Javed to polish his bowling talent and expressed his hope to play for Pakistan team within a year time.