There was a time when fans considered the Pakistan cricket team’s opening batter Ahmed Shehzad to be a lookalike of the Indian cricket team’s star player Virat Kohli. Both had a similar beard style, and when they played in ICC T20 World Cup and Asia Cup, fans noticed how they looked similar. Shehzad is also a right-handed batter like Kohli.
However, their career graphs are quite different. While Virat Kohli is one of the biggest names in world cricket, Ahmed Shehzad is no longer a part of the Pakistan cricket team. In an interview with Cricket Pakistan, Shehzad recently opened up on how the Pakistan Cricket Board has not backed him like BCCI has backed Virat Kohli.
“Kohli’s been struggling for form for the past two years, while I was cast aside after two matches. I was told to perform in the Faisalabad tournament and I was the highest scorer there but still, I was not handed another chance,” said Ahmed Shehzad.
Shehzad has played 13 Test matches, 81 ODIs, and 59 T20Is for the Pakistan cricket team. He was a part of the Men in Green squad when they played in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. The last time fans saw him in the Pakistan colors was back in 2019 in a match against the Sri Lankan cricket team.
Ahmed Shehzad explains the main reason behind his downfall
During the same interview, Shehzad said that Virat Kohli found someone like MS Dhoni who backed him during his rough patch in cricket. Dhoni backed Kohli even when he struggled to score runs against the England cricket team in the away series of 2014.
Four years later, Kohli went on to demolish the England cricket team in the same conditions. Comparing it with the situation in Pakistan, Shehzad said:
“Our own senior players and ex-cricketers cannot digest seeing someone succeed in the cricketing world.”
