Sent home midway from UK tour, Pakistan's Salman Agha hits 300* in domestic return

A fortnight after the PCB sent Salman Ali Agha, along with six other players and the two coaches, home midway through the UK tour in the name of a ‘Test shake-up’, the Pakistan white-ball captain responded with his maiden triple hundred in domestic cricket. Playing for Kingsmen Academy against Markhor IT Solutions at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium in the first round of the President's Trophy, Salman smashed his highest first-class score of an unbeaten 300 off 336 balls, surpassing his previous best of 169. Although his returns in the whites for Pakistan in his last two away tours were below par, Salman credited ‘adjustments’ he made to his game for his monstrous score.

"My form in international cricket has not been up to the mark in the last few series. You make adjustments which can be very helpful [in regaining the form]. I also made slight adjustments to my batting, which has helped me a lot … I am very happy because such milestones are once in a lifetime,” Agha said in a video released by the PCB.

Agha struggled for runs in Tests in the West Indies and England, accumulating only 45 runs across his last five innings before being sent home in a shock PCB move. While Salman Agha stood as the interim captain for the series opener in Leeds in Babar Azam’s absence, the selection committee dropped Agha for Babar in the second Test at Lord’s, after which the drama began. From being benched in the second Test to finding himself out of the squad for the third and final Test in Birmingham, Agha endured a topsy-turvy time during this period.

After conceding the three-match Test series in England, with the Edgbaston defeat being their 16th loss in their last 21 matches, Pakistan find themselves at the bottom of the WTC standings. Such results have forced harsh calls from all quarters, including PCB selectors, who want all first-team players across formats to feature regularly in Pakistan’s domestic first-class cricket.

As a centrally-contracted PCB player, Salman Agha belongs to the A/B category (Test and ODI specialists), and is bound to play at least six and four domestic first-class matches each year. Agha had played only three first-class matches in the last three years, but reflects on the importance of playing regular domestic cricket.

"It is very important for an international cricketer to play domestic cricket and I think every cricketer should play domestic cricket when he gets an opportunity. That's what I do, and I feel very good to be back in the domestic circuit,” he said.

Not part of the upcoming Asian Games in Japan, Agha would next feature in the T20I series against Sri Lanka at home, followed by an ODI tri-series also involving England.