ISLAMABAD-To honour the achievements of renowned cricketer Fakhar Zaman in cricket and association with Pakistan Navy, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi on Monday conferred him the rank of Honorary Lieutenant in Pakistan Navy.
A special epaulette award ceremony was held at Naval Headquarters to mark the event, said a press release issued here. Fakhar Zaman, who was an Ex-Pakistan Navy Serviceman, joined Pakistan Navy in 2007 as sailor in operations branch. During early years in service, his excellent cricket talent was spotted and he represented Pakistan Navy in many tournaments.
His performance in the game remained exceptional and he earned numerous laurels for Pakistan Navy. His international debut in cricket was in 2012 while he was serving in Navy. He participated in International Defence Cricket Challenge Cup 2012 held at Australia and was declared the best player of the tournament. His cricketing skills were recognized and he was rewarded with Sanad-e-Tahseen by Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC).
Pakistan Navy observed profound cricket skills and extraordinary talent of Fakhar Zaman and graciously provided him the opportunity to continue his career in cricket and join Pakistan national cricket squad.
During the course of time, his major achievements in cricket field include match-winning century against India in final of ICC 2017 Champions Trophy, in which he was declared ‘man of the match’.
Besides, he had scored 1,000 fastest runs in just 18 ODIs in 2018. He became first Pakistani to score double century in ODIs and had record opening partnership of 304 runs during 2018. Fakhar made the world record by scoring 512 runs in five consecutive ODI series. In National T20 Tournament 2020, he was declared the best player and batsman.
Earlier, Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi in his address congratulated Honourary Lieutenant Fakhar Zaman for his remarkable achievements for Pakistan in the field of cricket. He said Pakistan Navy has been supporting various sports including squash, sailing, hockey, football, etc, and has produced number of professional players, who represented Pakistan and earned laurels for the country.
He highlighted that Pakistan Navy would continue patronage the sports culture at both national and international level. The epaulette award ceremony was attended by civil, military and dignitaries from PCB while former cricketer and family members of Fakhar Zaman were also present there.