In the land of the West Indies, it was a Pakistan talent who created a storm with the bat, as seen most recently in the Caribbean. A young, daring top order bat who is all of 21 year of age, Maaz Sadaqat is perhaps the pick of the queries that the die hard and ever inquisitive fan of the game has in his mind.
At least at this point in time having seen some mayhem from the bat of the attacking left handed batter.
While seemingly doomsday for the bowlers and there’ve been many who suffered his wrath, be it Roston Chase, Gudakesh Motie, even Rahkeem Cornwall and the likes, the best thing to know about Maaz Sadaqat, who’s a 2005 born, is that he adds an element of thrill to an already thrilling art in the game that’s batting.
Peshawar has produced some tremendous talents over the decades in the form of Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan. But even two stalwarts of the game, men with distinction and several years senior to the young and rising talent would nod in approval having seen the batting skills of Maaz Sadaqat.
Prior to representing the Caribbean Premier League’s Jamaica Kingsmen, a team otherwise loaded with lots of batting talent in the form of attacking batting loving captain Rovman Powell, Keemo Paul, Kirk McKenzie and the redoubtable Andre Russell, Maaz Sadaqat already made a name for himself giving a nice glimpse of his talent with a bunch of varied appearances in domestic cricket back in his nation.
He was once a familiar force in the Pakistan under 19 team, followed by noted batting stints for Peshawar Zulmi and Hyderabad Kingsmen.
Moreover, the best batter from the Jamaica CPL side as stats point to has already made his debut for the men’s senior Pakistan team.
Guess what! He’s already played 6 ODIs already for Pakistan and has struck a fifty, his highest score being 75.
Moreover, the man who made history for Jamaica Kingsmen as the first from their side to hit a CPL century also has a revered feat against his name.
So what’s that?
The explosive batter actually finished the Asia Cup Rising Stars tournament last year in 2025 as the tournament’s top run-scorer and Player of the Tournament, highlighted by an unbeaten 79 against India A.
Additionally, he had 52 T20s to his name. And that’s all at the age of 21.
And some of his most notable performances came in this season’s CPL, the just concluded and revered T20 franchise based league in the West Indies.
It’s here where Maaz Sadaqat batted like a king for the Jamaica Kingsmen side
A century in the finals. 114 runs. Who would have thought that such a scarring experience for the Antigua bowlers was to come in the timely?
Someone who aced the final from the top of the order, Maaz looked in fine touch in that truly unforgettable evening. And taking just 58 odd deliveries to get to his ton, he ensured some fireworks that left the crowds entertained even as his side would go down fighting.
Laced in that special effort with the bat were 9 cracking sixes. Whether it was Jayden Seales, or anyone among the trinity of Alzarri Jospeh, Rahkeem Cornwall and Joshua James- it simply didn’t seem to matter to Maaz as each of the Falcons’ top bowling names were shredded by the unsparing blade of the dashing left hander.
For the talented left hander Maaz, batting was no maze on a surface that offered runs for the one who attacked and boy, didn’t he?
But in a game that should ideally have offered lots of runs for the one batting first, it being the final of the CPL, the biggest party in the Caribbean, it seemed that the responsibility for heavy run scoring was left to the league’s newcomer.
Sadaqat scored 114 of his team’s 170 overall runs; the next best score to his cracking century would come from the bat of another Pakistani talent. Swim Ayub scored a brisk 29 off 22.
Now as they say, it’s one thing to score a century in a franchise game of a T20 competition, regardless of its popularity or size. But it’s something quite different, something so praiseworthy when despite being a newcomer you score 2 tons in the very same tournament, despite being a recently arrived talent.
Just a few days prior his sparkling century in the CPL finals, Maaz Sadaqat was at it in an important contest against the Barbados Trident. Some would say that while he set the perfect tone from top of the order for his final reaching team, he was just setting himself up and whetting his appetite by dishing out several lusty blows a couple of games earlier.
Exactly on September 16 against the Barbados Tridents, Sadaqat made lightwork of the paltry 145 run ask as set by his opposing team: Barbados Tridents.
In making 112 off the 145 runs in his own and taking just 49 deliveries those many and rather brilliantly, the Pakistan batter delivered a fine example in sheer attack and creating opportunity.
Hitting 9 fours and 8 sixes and rarely ever looking unsettled at the crease, he proved to be the bane of a bowling attack including Chris Green, Gudakesh Motie and exciting newcomer Jakeem Pollard.
His strike rate on that particular occasion? Simply rampant and too good to miss, which at 228, was the best for any batter on either side.
And given he’s begun so very well and has all the zest and energy to exceed at the highest annals, it is is a matter of time before the Peshawar born can make the best of the chances afforded to him at the international stage.
