Pakistan’s top-order batter, Fakhar Zaman, is confident of returning to international cricket after eight months when his country hosts the ICC Champions Trophy in February and March.

Fakhar has not played international cricket since Pakistan’s first-round exit from the T20 World Cup in June and subsequently missed out on a central contract with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the first time in eight years.

“The plan was to get fully fit and play in the Champions Trophy,” Fakhar said. “I am lucky to be fit right now. I started from the Champions Trophy 2017, and that went really well for me. Now I am very excited for the next edition also.”

Fakhar had a memorable tournament in 2017 when he scored a match-winning century in the final against India.

“People don’t know that after the T20 World Cup, I got sick,” Fakhar explained to the Vipers Voices podcast as he prepared to play the International League T20 (ILT20) for Desert Vipers in the United Arab Emirates. “I was not part of the team because of my medical condition, but now I’m 100 percent sure I will play for Pakistan.”

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The veteran batter made headlines when he criticised the national cricket administration just before Babar Azam was controversially rested for the final two home Test matches against England late last year due to his inconsistent form in red-ball cricket. The PCB issued Fakhar a show-cause notice for his social media post in favour of Babar.

The post did not go down well with PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who also expressed concerns over Fakhar’s fitness.

“It cannot happen like that. If the selection committee is not playing one player, then other players start tweeting to express their displeasure,” Naqvi told reporters at the time.

“Players are not allowed to function like this, and we will never allow that. The main issue with [Fakhar] is his fitness test that he was not able to clear.”

In the absence of Fakhar, Pakistan won three away one-day international (ODI) series over the last two months, beating Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa under the captaincy of new white-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan.

Back home, Fakhar returned to competitive cricket during the domestic Champions Cup T20 tournament last month and was the third highest-scorer with 303 runs in 10 games at a strike rate of 132.31.

Pakistan’s latest white-ball sensation, Saim Ayub, made two ODI centuries in South Africa before he fractured his right ankle during the second Test at Cape Town last week.

Ayub has been ruled out of competitive cricket for at least six weeks, putting his participation in doubt for the Champions Trophy.

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The PCB flew Ayub to London from Cape Town on Monday for treatment, and Fakhar said he hoped Ayub would recover in time as Pakistan prepares to host its first major ICC tournament in 29 years.

“I hope he [Ayub] will recover quickly,” Fakhar said. “I was thinking to call Saim yesterday, just to talk to him about this injury. Believe me, he is such a great player that if he continues to play for the next four-five years, he will be among the top three players in the world.”