“When we went to Australia with the U-16s, we didn’t get to play in any of the big stadiums,” Saim Ayub recalls in a conversation with Cricbuzz. “We played all our matches in side (smaller) grounds. On one of our rest days, we were taken for an MCG tour. We were taken to the top stand to see the view. I looked at the ground and said I don’t know when I’ll get to play here.
“Five years later, when I walked into this ground again I looked at the stand where we’d come back then. I remembered wondering when I’d get to play here and look today I am standing here. That felt very good.”
Saim was not lucky enough to make his debut at the MCG in December 2023 where Pakistan played the second Test match of the three-match series but that stroll with his team mates ahead of the game reminiscing the under-16 tour certainly made his day. Life has certainly changed since then for Saim, who was regarded as one of the brightest young talents in the country.
“It felt good in 2018 during the Australia tour with the Under-16 squad,” he points out. “I was the highest scorer and everyone praised me from that point. I felt that everyone was dreaming about me from the Under-16 days and it made me happy and motivated me to work harder. Because I had to play in the Under-19 next year and I was the highest run scorer there as well,” he said adding that he was lucky enough to get the necessary support from his parents to play cricket who had opted against it when his elder brother wanted to choose the path he preferred to travel.
“My father had a liking for cricket. My elder brother plays amateur cricket in Dubai for his Bank and when he was like me, he wanted to play cricket. But my family was reluctant about it and asked him to focus on his studies. Fortunately, it was not the same case with me and probably the reason was I was the youngest son of my family. I started playing tape ball cricket on the flat roads and parks and broke a lot of things. People were really irritated with me. Seeing my passion for the game, my father got me enrolled in the PIA Academy in Karachi.
“My father said you have so much passion for the game and I am getting you admitted to an academy. Later cricket turned into my profession. I started learning cricket from the academy and later started playing club cricket. I was part of an age-level tournament which was followed by PSL.”
Since coming into the spotlight, Saim has often drawn comparisons with the legendary Saeed Anwar, especially with many pointing out the similarities with which they play the flick shot. “People have said so much about that shot (flick) that nowadays bowlers doesn’t give me the ball in that zone and I have said so much about that,” he says. “But honestly I don’t think about that shot and it just happens and you can play that shot when the bowler is bowling in a bad zone and bowlers will do that very rarely. I practice that shot but in a game it just happens and it is not that I think a lot about it before playing that shot.
“Saeed Anwar is a legendary cricketer of Pakistan. No one can be like him. People say I play like him though I haven’t thought it that way. But it is nice to hear that. I can be only Saim Ayub and I cannot be Saeed Anwar. When he was like me, no one used to know him and gradually he made a name for himself. I also want to be a legendary cricketer like him.”
Saim added that his initial failures in the Pakistan Super League turned out to be a blessing in disguise. “I didn’t have a good start in the PSL and that failure taught me a lot of lessons. If you don’t fail, you will never know about your weaknesses. So at times, failures help you a lot.”
The 21-year-old believes that success in the longer format will help young players improve their game in the two white-ball formats as well. Saim made his debut in the third and final Test against Australia at the start of the year and is keen on establishing himself in the format. “If you can adjust in Test cricket, then in that case your white ball cricket will certainly improve and it is applicable for a batsman or a bowler,” he said. “I think youngsters like me need to prioritize red ball cricket as that will make one-day and T20 cricket easier and if you play Test cricket in that case you don’t have to give too much time for the other formats because no matter how much you play white-ball cricket without Test cricket it won’t help you much. If you look at the cricketing world, the legendary cricketers are all three-format cricketers and if you want to be a big star you need to play Test cricket.
“If you play red ball cricket in that case your defence and technique gets stronger and everything gets easier. If you can play defensively, you will anyway be able to hit and all you need is some power that I don’t have (laugh),” he added.
The left-handed batter certainly is currently looking forward to making an impact in the ongoing BPL that could prove to be an ideal preparation before entering the forthcoming edition of PSL. 2024 could have a lot more in store for the youngster with the T20 World Cup coming up.