Umar Gul: “Naseem and Shaheen are talented but they need more time to develop as match-winners”

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Veteran Pakistan seamer Umar Gul has said that the pace duo of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah are talented, but haven’t risen to the level of being match-winners just yet.

Gul’s comments come after the tour of England, where Pakistan lost the Test series 1-0 and drew the T20 series 1-1.

In the three-Test series, Afridi took five wickets at an average of at an average of 51.60, while Naseem claimed three wickets at an average of 69.33.

As for the three-match T20 series that followed, Afridi picked up two wickets at an average of 41, while Naseem did not feature in any of the matches.

Gul admitted that he expected Pakistan to perform a lot better during the tour and felt that the national team should have “at least drawn the Test series”.

“I was expecting the team to do better on the tour, especially bearing in mind that we had a lot of time to acclimatise with the conditions. We should have at least drawn the Test series,” Gul told Cricket Pakistan.

“The lack of experience in the bowling departing is clearly hurting the side. Naseem and Shaheen are talented but they need more time to develop as match-winners. On the other hand, in our batting department the middle-order did not perform in accordance with expectations.”

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