Mahmood returns to the club for the first time since 2007 but now as a British citizen.
Surrey have announced that Pakistani all-rounder and former county star Azhar Mahmood will play for the club this year in the FL t20 competition.
Mahmood is returning to the side that he last played for in 2007, after spending six years at the Oval before leaving to join Kent.
The Pakistan international is only being brought in for the domestic English Twenty20 tournament as the 38-year-old is seen as something of a specialist and luckily for Surrey, he doesn’t fill one of their precious overseas slots.
Due to the amount of time Mahmood spent playing in the County Championship through the mid-2000s he qualified as a British citizen in 2011 and therefore the county does not have to register him as a foreign player.
The all-rounder was available to join Surrey after Kent did not offer him a new contract at the end of the 2012 season and the Pakistani has been doing the rounds on the world Twenty20 circuit – featuring in Australia’s Big Bash, the twenty-over competition in South Africa and currently the IPL.
Mahmood will arrive at Surrey after his time with Kings XI Punjab in India and the veteran is relishing his return.
“It feels very special to be coming back to Surrey,” the journeyman said on BBC Sport.
“It [Surrey’s Twenty20 squad] looks strong and a real mix of youth and experience, and I look forward to catching up with the guys when I get back from India.”
The county start their FL t20 campaign against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl on 26 June.
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