Azhar Mahmood on Shahnawaz Dahani: “How many games has he played? He has not even played 20 games”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former bowling coach Azhar Mahmood has questioned how people can already judge pace bowler Shahnawaz Dahani when he hasn’t even played 20 games for Pakistan.
Dahani has represented his country in 11 T20 Internationals, where he has taken eight wickets at an average of 40.
He has also featured in two ODIs and claimed one wicket at an average of 73.
Most recently, the 24-year-old played in the T20 tri-series against New Zealand and Bangladesh, and picked up two wickets in three matches at an average of 33.50.
While these figures may seem worrying, Mahmood insisted that people have to give Dahani and other youngsters like Mohammad Wasim Jnr more time to prove their worth.
“How many games has he played? He has not even played 20 games. Wasim Jr has also made his debut one year back,” he told Cricket Pakistan.
“In the T20 format, the bowler will concede runs and when the opposition has great batters, fielding is not cooperating, we can’t just blame the bowlers.”
Dahani was a reserve player for Pakistan in the 2022 T20 World Cup, where the men in green qualified for the final in incredible circumstances.
However, they fell short of going all the way and lifting the trophy as England beat them by five wickets to be crowned champions.
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