Mohd. Salman vows to make comeback in Pak team "very soon"

Islamabad, Oct 6(ANI): Pakistani wicketkeeper Mohammad Salman, who has not been selected for the series against Sri Lanka, has expressed his hope of making a comeback in the national team in the upcoming season.

"My hopes are always positive and to always stay positive. I never give up and Insha'Allah (God Willing) I will come back very soon," PakPassion.net quoted Salman, as saying.

"Insha'Allah I will work hard and I always believe I can come back with good performances in the upcoming season in Pakistan," he added.

Salman said his main focus is to do well in first class cricket, perform well there and then take it from there.

"It's an honour to be a first class cricketer and it is a job that children all over the world dream of doing, but don't get that opportunity to do. So I am thankful that I am playing first class cricket on a regular basis and my aim is to do well in the upcoming domestic season. Yes I have a desire to play for my country again as any cricketer would, but I prefer to take things step by step and we'll see after that," he added.

Salman was the wicketkeeper on Pakistan's recent tour of the Caribbean, where he impressed everyone with his wonderful glove work on some extremely testing pitches.

However, he could not give great batting performances during the West Indies tour. Hen asked whether he was disappointed with his performances with the bat in international cricket, Salman said: "I had come into the team off a solid season with the bat at the first class level. I'd scored three first class hundreds and a hundred in T20s during that season, so I was in pretty good form with the bat at the time.

"I don't think my batting stats at international level tell the complete story. I played only 7 ODIs for Pakistan and got to bat in only 3 of them," he said.

"When the Test series came around, I found myself changing my approach after each innings. Naturally, I'm an aggressive player and didn't know if I should try to be aggressive during the Test matches. After I got out I took a more defensive approach in the next match. That also didn't go too well. Following my early struggles I started feeling the pressure and was somewhat confused," he added.

Salman said that the tracks were bowler friendly and that even the more experienced players were struggling to get runs there.

"I'd say I made some mental mistakes as a batsman at the international level. I blame myself for not being able to adapt to the demands of international cricket," he added. (ANI)