Has anyone ever complained of being good-looking? Perhaps not, but Pakistan cricketer Ahmed Shehzad feels his charming looks and how he talked made some seniors ‘jealous’ in the dressing room, eventually leading to his exit from the national side.

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Shahzad was an attacking opener during his playing days, doing the bulk of new-ball facing across formats. Having played several ICC tournaments, including a few T20 and a 50-over World Cup, Shehzad has the distinction of winning the Champions Trophy title with Pakistan – in the last held edition in 2017.

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Speaking on a podcast with Pakistan’s Ahmed Ali, Shehzad didn’t mince his words in accepting that not form, not fitness, but good looks troubled him in gelling with his teammates inside the dressing room.

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“Being good-looking has caused me a lot of problems. In our field, if you look good, know how to dress, and speak well, some people start to resent you,” Shehzad said in a podcast with Ahmed Ali.

“I’ve been a target within the Pakistani team for this. I’m not defending myself here, but others have also faced this. If your fan following grows and people appreciate you, it’s hard for some senior players to accept,” he added.

“We come from small areas. I lived in Anarkali, Lahore, and when I gained recognition, I worked on grooming myself and improving my personality. But this has also caused significant problems within Pakistan,” the out-of-favour opener added.

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When PSL owners kept him out deliberately 

A cricketer-turned-YouTuber, Shehzad, earlier alleged that Pakistan Super League (PSL) owners used to deliberately keep him out of the side despite him doing fairly well in the domestic and National T20 Cup tournaments in the lead-up to that.

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“I have tried really hard in domestic cricket consistently in the last few years and did reasonably well in the National T20 Cup just before the PSL draft,” Shehzad wrote in a social media post.

“There seems a deliberate effort to keep me out, even when franchises have opted for other performers with inferior numbers than me. But when everything is pre-planned it doesn’t matter. I don’t know whose responsibility it is to get top domestic performers in the PSL then,” he continued.

Meanwhile, Shehzad last played for Pakistan six years ago in 2019. He represented Pakistan in 13 Tests, 81 ODIs, and 59 T20Is, scoring 982, 2605, and 1471 runs in each format, respectively. 

(With inputs from agencies)