during the
2010 tour of England. After Pakistan's disappointing
2007 Cricket World Cup, Fawad was drafted into a 16-man squad for a
One Day International (ODI) series against Sri Lanka in
Abu Dhabi. On debut, he was out for a first ball
duck. His second ODI was a better experience as he contributed 32 unbeaten runs down the order as Pakistan beat
India by 31 runs in
Jaipur. In between those two matches, Fawad travelled to South Africa as part of Pakistan's squad for the
2007 ICC World Twenty20 tournament. He played in the semi-final, taking two wickets against
New Zealand, as Pakistan progressed to the final, for which he was not selected. In the Asia Cup, in June 2008, he scored his maiden international half century against Hong Kong. He was subsequently dropped for the Sri Lanka series in January 2009. In October 2008, Fawad was selected for the quadrangular
Twenty20 International tournament to be played in Canada between
Sri Lanka,
Pakistan,
Zimbabwe and hosts
Canada. In the fourth match of the tournament, he hit 23 not out from just eight balls with three sixes and took a wicket. In the next match against Zimbabwe, he took three wickets for seven runs from 3 overs.
2010 Fawad was picked to tour
England in 2010. He played club cricket in England to help himself get used to the conditions. Fawad scored well in the first two matches but his major breakthrough came in the third ODI when he increased his top score to 64. He retained his place for the ODI series against
South Africa in the
UAE. After scoring 123 runs in the five-match series, he was subsequently dropped from the ODI team and later that year, lost his place in the T20 team after the tour to New Zealand.
Asia Cup 2014: Return After being dropped from all formats for three and a half years, Fawad's impressive displays domestically (most notably being the top run scorer in the President's One Day Trophy in the season 2013/14) earned him a recall to the national side for the
Asia Cup in 2014. His first match after his recall was against the host team
Bangladesh, deputising for the injured
Sharjeel Khan. He contributed significantly to the team's victory, scoring 74 runs from 70 balls in a competitive chase of 326. He continued his form by scoring his maiden international ODI hundred (114 not out) against Sri Lanka in the final, rescuing his side from 18/3 to 260/5 with the help of
Misbah-ul-Haq and
Umar Akmal. His effort was not enough though as Sri Lanka successfully chased the target to become the champions of the
2014 Asia Cup.
2017 onwards In 2017, Fawad signed to play as a professional for
Clitheroe Cricket Club in the
Lancashire League. In April 2018, he was named the vice-captain of
Sindh's squad for the
2018 Pakistan Cup. In March 2019, he was named in
Baluchistan's squad for the
2019 Pakistan Cup. In September 2019, Fawad was named in
Sindh's squad for the
2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament.
Test career In July 2009, Fawad became the first Pakistani cricketer to score a Test century on debut away from home, and the tenth to score a century on debut, scoring 168 runs in the second innings of the second Test against
Sri Lanka. In a partnership of 200 runs with captain
Younus Khan for the second wicket, the pair broke the previous record of 151 runs between
Mohsin Khan and
Majid Khan at Lahore in 1981–82. It was also highest partnership for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. However, just two Test matches later, he was dropped from the team. In December 2019, after a gap of more than ten years, Fawad was named in Pakistan's Test squad, for the two-match home series
against Sri Lanka. He received his call-up to national test side after his consistent performances at first-class level and by the time he received a call-up after a gap of over a decade, he had already scored over 8000 runs with 26 centuries and with a stellar average of 56.48 in first-class cricket. In June 2020, he was named in a 29-man squad for Pakistan's
tour to England during the
COVID-19 pandemic. In July 2020, he was shortlisted in Pakistan's 20-man squad for the Test matches against England. In August 2020, Fawad played in the second Test against England, after a gap of 10 years and 258 days since his last Test match appearance. In the first innings, he faced four balls before being dismissed for a
duck. In December 2020, Fawad was named in Pakistan's Test squad for their away series
against New Zealand. In the first Test, he scored his first Test hundred after more than 11 years, a gap of 4,218 days between the two. It was the longest period only behind after
Warren Bardsley's 5,093 and
Syed Mushtaq Ali's 4,544 days. He also emulated
Ertugrul Gazi's popular celebration style which he copied from one of the popular scenes which featured in the 2014 Turkish drama series
Diriliş: Ertuğrul after scoring a test century against New Zealand. In January 2021, Fawad was named in Pakistan's 17 man Test squad for their
home series against South Africa. In the 1st Test, Fawad scored 109, sharing a century partnership with
Faheem Ashraf. On 30 April 2021, Fawad became the first Asian cricketer to convert his first four test 50s into 100s. He achieved this milestone during the
first Test match against Zimbabwe. In August 2021, he continued his fine form further by scoring another century during the
second test against West Indies at
Sabina Park. == Television ==