Mansoor Amjad targets Twenty20 spot

Mansoor Amjad, the 22-year-old Pakistani legspinner, has hopes of making a comeback to the national team for the ICC World Twenty20 to be held in the West Indies next year. Amjad, who has played an ODI and Twenty20 each for his country, has recovered from a series of injuries and was confident of achieving his goal though a strong domestic season.

"It's every player's dream to play for their country and I cherish the two games that I have played for Pakistan," he told the PakPassion website. "I took 3 for 3 in my only over in the Twenty20 international against Bangladesh and I took 1 for 44 versus Sri Lanka in Karachi in my only one-day international. I sincerely hope that I get another chance to show my ability on the international stage and the Twenty20 World Cup next April and May in the Caribbean is definitely a target".

Amjad has suffered a spate of injuries that hampered his domestic career, which he described as "a nightmare", but said he was back to full fitness. "I'm feeling 100% fit after such a long time. It's been such a frustrating time for me, having injury after injury," he said. "I've had to miss so much cricket which has been very difficult for me. The worst injury was the one to my bowling hand where I damaged ligaments in my finger.

"I made a few comebacks after the finger injury but the problem kept on recurring. After consulting the medical experts I was advised to take a break from cricket and only come back when I was fully fit".

In three four-day games for National Bank this season Amjad has taken ten wickets at 20.50 and was banking on his recent form to win him a place in the national side. "I'm hoping that I can finish the Quaid-e-Azam tournament with a good performance in the final game against Sui Northern Gas Pipelines and then perform well in the forthcoming domestic 50-over and Twenty20 tournaments," he said. "I'm really looking forward to playing regularly for National Bank in the coming weeks and months and catching the eye of the selectors."