Want to make return to Pakistan squad as a better player: Sohaib Maqsood

Expressing his desire to make a return to the international cricket, Pakistan middle-order batsman Sohaib Maqsood has insisted that he is looking forward to put his best foot forward in the domestic cricket so as to emerge as a better player whenever he makes a return to the national side.

Considered as a top batting prospect when he burst onto the international arena in 2013, Maqsood has struggled to establish a place in the Pakistan limited-overs side, despite scoring 956 runs in 46 matches he played for his country.

"It's been good in patches and not that great at other times. I suppose that is why I haven't played that much international cricket. But one thing I have done is learn a lot from the experience I have had so far. My focus is now to do well in domestic cricket so that whenever my comeback happens, I will give a better account of myself," the 29-year-old was quoted as saying by PakPassion.com.

Maqsood said that he is eyeing to perform to the best of his ability in the upcoming domestic season in order to show the selectors that he is still capable of contributing a lot to his country.

"The domestic season is an ideal time for any player who is not in the national team to perform and show what he can do. The current season is a lengthy one and there will be plenty of opportunities to prove one-self," he said.

While revealing what led to his sudden downfall from grace after a promising start to his international career, Maqsood admitted that it was definitely his bad shot selections that led to his slump.

"So yes, my shot selection was at fault but that was probably because I wasn't used to the position I was being asked to bat at. That is why usually around the thirty or thirty-five score I would play rash shots which were probably the demand of the hour as the team needed such hits. This obviously caused problems for me and resulted in below par scores for myself," insisted Maqsood, who will play the next season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for his new team Peshawar Zalmi.

Maqsood also stated that he is not at all disappointed about missing out on a PCB central contract for 2016-2017, saying that his performance was probably not good enough to make it to the list.

"I am not disappointed by this exclusion at all. These contracts are performance-based and probably my performance was not good enough to have been included in that list. The main goal for each player is to qualify with one's performance for inclusion in the national team. My aim is to perform so I can do the same and the central contracts are not a consideration or an important issue for that goal," he added.