The left-handed opening batter was originally scheduled to fly from the United Kingdom to Barbados on Friday night, with Jamaica Kingsmen obtaining permission from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for his return if the third Test at Edgbaston finished inside three days, according to Cricinfo. Saim Ayub ‘s return to the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has been delayed, primarily due to Razaullah, the fast-bowling all-rounder, who recently made his Test debut against England in the third and final match at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
His Test return, however, proved far less productive. Opening the batting, Ayub recorded scores of zero in both innings and failed to claim a wicket with the ball. Speaking of the third and final Test, Pakistan suffered an eight-wicket loss, to lose the series 0-3. England chased down the target of 130 inside the first session on Day 4 with Joe Root playing a captain’s knock and hitting a half-century.
He bagged a pair in the contest, and his inclusion into the squad was severely criticised by Nasser Hussain, with the former England captain calling it “disregard and disrespect” for Tests.
The right-handed batter played a quickfire knock of 81 runs studded with nine sixes, the joint-most maximums by a player in his debut Test. As a result, Ayub’s departure from England was pushed back by at least 24 hours, ruling him out of Kingsmen’s match against Barbados Tridents in Bridgetown. However, Razaullah ’s spectacular show with the bat extended the contest into the fourth day before England eventually completed an eight-wicket victory. Ayub had been enjoying a productive campaign in the Caribbean before his surprise Test call-up. His absence has already affected Kingsmen once during Pakistan duty, with the franchise suffering a defeat against Guyana Amazon Warriors last Saturday. The Pakistan batter will be unavailable for another important fixture, leaving Kingsmen to navigate their playoff push without one of their key overseas players. Ayub was drafted into Pakistan’s Test squad after the team made sweeping changes following their heavy defeat in the second Test.
He travelled to England directly from the Caribbean, where he had struck a century only days earlier.
