Waqar Younis: “I feel Naseem, when I first saw him, he was a finished product”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Waqar Younis, the legendary Pakistan fast bowler, said the first time he saw seamer Naseem Shah, he knew the 19-year-old “was a finished product”.
Naseem has enjoyed a meteoric rise to stardom, starting off by making his presence felt in Test cricket before being given the opportunity to show what he can do in the limited overs formats.
Having exceeded expectations, Waqar knew his intuition was right when he first laid eyes on the teenager.
“I feel Naseem, when I first saw him, he was a finished product,” the former Pakistan bowling coach said in a video as quoted by Cricwick.
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Naseem recently featured in the three-Test series against England, where he finished with five wickets in one match at an average of 41.20. He only played one Test as he suffered a should injury.
The talented pace bowler is in Pakistan’s squad for the ongoing two-Test series against New Zealand, but wasn’t included in the playing XI for the first Test in Karachi, which ended ended as a draw.
He returned in the ongoing second Test and took two wickets on the opening day.
Pakistan Squad for New Zealand Test Series: Babar Azam (capt), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Agha Salman, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shan Masood and Zahid Mahmood