Junaid Khan is a Pakistani cricketer who has played Pakistan, Lancashire, Khulna Titans, Nelson Mandela Bay Stars Middlesex, Pakistan A, Peshawar Zalmi, and the Pakistan Cricket Board Patron’s XI.
He is a right-handed batsman and a left-arm fast-medium bowler. He joined the Pakistan team as a substitute for players like Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Amir, and Mohammad Asif, hailing from the North-West Frontier Province.
He was born on December 24, 1989, and he won a spot in the team due to Shoaib Akhtar’s apparent retirement in 2011.
Background
He was the first individual from the North-West Frontier Province to qualify for the Pakistan Cricket Team. He was born in the district of Swabi.
At the age of 17, he made his first-class debut.
He played for Abbottabad and made his first-class debut against Multan.
He took four wickets for 57 runs in his first-class debut.
Debut
Junaid was a member of the Pakistan squad at the 2011 World Cup, but he did not get a chance to feature in the starting eleven.
On April 21, 2011, he made his international T20 debut against the Windies at Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, but he went wicketless in the match.
Two days later, he made his One-Day International debut against the Windies. In the ODI series, he finished as his team’s fourth highest wicket-taker.
Rise to Glory
In 2011, the same year as his debut, Pakistan toured Ireland, where Junaid was named Man of the Match after taking four wickets for 12 runs in the first match and finishing the series as the second highest wicket-taker.
He rose to prominence during the 2012 series against India, where he demonstrated his talent by taking four wickets in the first match, dismantling the Indian top order.
He clean bowled Sehwag, Kohli, and Yuvraj in the first ODI, and he took vital wickets in the second.
In a test series against Sri Lanka in 2012, he was named Man of the Match.