He struggled visibly with the injury during a 41-ball 24, as Pakistan crashed to a 60-run defeat. Fakhar was distraught in the dressing room after the dismissal and, given the uncertainty surrounding his arrival into the side, and that he turns 35 in April, the fact that it could’ve been his last game for Pakistan was not lost.

But talking to PCB digital, Fakhar confirmed he is not going anywhere. “I heard about this [retirement rumours] a lot and even my friends messaged me about it, but there’s nothing to it,” Fakhar said. “The ODI format is my favourite format. Yes with my thyroid, there was a thing that I could take more time getting back into it. But I want to play T20s, ODIs, even Tests again. As far as my comeback is concerned, I spoke to the doctor and I can start playing cricket again within the month.”

Fakhar had not played international cricket since the 2024 T20 World Cup last June in the USA and West Indies, where Pakistan were eliminated in the group stage. He last played an ODI in the 2023 ODI World Cup, another event where Pakistan exited before the knockout stages.

In the run-up to this tournament, however, he’d been left out of Pakistan’s central contracts. And he had also been issued a show-cause notice after a tweet he put out last September criticising the decision to drop Babar Azam from the Test side. Later, when chairman Mohsin Naqvi organised a “connection camp” to get senior players to air their views, Fakhar was among the most outspoken, singling out a senior official for particularly trenchant criticism.

That would seem to be in the past for now, with Fakhar committing to a return with Pakistan. “The doctor has advised me that I can start training again in three weeks. So I think I should be back to playing cricket in a month’s time.”

Pakistan had already lost Saim Ayub to injury before the tournament and the subsequent loss of Fakhar was a double whammy that coach Aaqib Javed identified as one of the pivotal reasons for their poor showing. Fakhar has a career strike rate of nearly 94 in ODIs and was clear about the way to play in the modern game.

“The biggest thing is the situation. If you are chasing 150-200 runs you go in with a different mindset and if you are chasing 350, you have a different mindset. But strike rate does matter, especially these days. And you have to play risky cricket. Cricket has become so fast-scoring, all teams come with that plan. If you take risks, you can score runs, although yes, you can also lose your wicket doing that.”