LAHORE: Zaman Khan has only bolstered what was already a lethal Pakistan pace attack and the emerging right-armer will have to compete hard to cement a place in the national side.

He put on a decent show in his debut series against Afghanistan, in which Pakistan went with a young side.

But with the seniors back for the upcoming Twenty International series against New Zealand, Zaman may not play all matches with the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah fully fit and available.

The slingy pacer, who has consistently shined in death overs in domestic cricket and the HBL Pakistan Super League over the past two to three years, however, is ready to wait for his chance.

“Every bowler is different; some are good with the new ball and some are good at the death,” he told reporters on the sidelines of Pakistan’s ongoing preparatory camp for the New Zealand matches.

“It is for the management to decide where they bring me into use but whenever I get the chance I’ll try my best to win matches for Pakistan.”

Although Zaman and co. ended up losing the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan 2-1, the youngster is more positive about the New Zealand series, given the side is not strengthened with its seasoned members.

“Against Afghanistan the conditions were a bit different and the players were new, he said. “In the New Zealand series we will have the home advantage as well as our senior players.

“If you have the likes of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in the team, it boosts the confidence of all the other players and winning matches becomes considerably easy.”

Zaman is a find of PSL franchise Lahore Qalandars’ Player Devel­opment Progr­amme, which also unearthed Haris, while the side turned Shaheen into a superstar.

Zaman said life would have been different for him had it not been for the franchise.

“Before playing for Lahore Qalandars, life was difficult,” he said. “But after that, things really improved for me.

Shaheen Bhai and Haris Bhai supported me a lot, doing net practice with them, playing matches with them have helped me learn a lot.

“We won two finals together and hopefully in the future as well I would like to keep learning.”

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2023