Sohail makes the most of his opportunity on debut

Left-handed batsman Haris Sohail made his ODI debut for Pakistan in July 2013 on the tour of the West Indies and looked as if would cement a place in Pakistan’s frail middle-order.

However, even before his career could take off, he was hit with a career-threatening knee injury. Though he played in Pakistan’s historic home-series against Zimbabwe in 2015, the injury kept recurring, so much so that he underwent a surgery in December later that year.

Though he was recalled for the Champions Trophy, which Pakistan went on to win, as a backup following Umar Akmal’s fitness issues, he didn’t figure in a single match. His inclusion for the first Test against Sri Lanka triggered a lot of furore as he had not played a single first class match for three years and was picked before Fawad Alam, who had better first class record scoring 2070 runs at an average of 59.14.

Bowling contribution

However, yesterday, Sohail scored an invaluable 76 and claimed a crucial wicket, that of Kaushal Silva, in the last session to put Pakistan in a position of strength from where they can press for a win.

The 28-year-old accepted that there was pressure on him going into the Test match to deliver but was upbeat because of the support he received from all quarters. “It is right, there was pressure and I was making a comeback. The confidence was there as I had got good backing from the management,” he said.