Haris Sohail: Looking past all the snubs

Stallions’ star showed what he was ‘capable of’.

KARACHI: Haris Sohail’s effort in the final of the recently concluded Super Eight T20 Cup came on the back of eye-catching performances and equally surprising snubs at various levels.

Haris scored 173 runs in the Stallions’ campaign, remaining unbeaten in all four innings that he took guard and being able to take his side through in the final brought him the most satisfaction.

“I had a chance to show everybody what I’m capable of with matches being televised,” Sohail, who scored an unbeaten 55 in the final, told The Express Tribune.

“Thankfully I was able to do just that. My aim has been to finish off matches after settling down because people always remember the batsman who is a finisher and a match-winner. Shoaib Malik [the captain] also played a huge part as he took pressure off me and his guidance really helped me in the middle.”

Sohail is no stranger to snubs — he missed out playing against an India under-19 squad that toured Pakistan under the leadership of Piyush Chawla and even amassing 794 runs while being the fourth highest-scorer in the 2008-09 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy was not enough to get him into the Pakistan A squad for a tour of Australia.

“I was obviously disappointed at being left out despite being among the runs but the snubs made me stronger and I kept believing in my ability instead of getting disheartened.

“I am now working hard to fulfil my dream of a national cap and it only gets more agonising as the target gets closer. You can’t get carried away after coming so close. You need to keep calm and be hopeful.”

Haris missed out on the man-of-the-final award in the final of the Twenty20 event after Malik’s all-round show. However, the captain’s decision to hand over the award to the left-hander left him high on confidence.

“It was the most pleasant moment of my career. I don’t have words to express that gesture as he took the limelight away from himself and handed over the prize to me.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2012.