Haroon Rasheed: “He tends to succumb to nerves in international cricket”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Haroon Rasheed, the Pakistan chief selector, said opening batsman Abdullah Shafique has the tendency “to succumb to nerves” when playing for the national team.
His comments come after Shafique failed to impress in the limited overs series against Afghanistan and New Zealand.
In the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, he made scored 0, 0 and 23.
He then played two ODIs against New Zealand, making 7 and 19.
Despite his failures, the 23-year-old is an established member of the Test team as he has amassed 992 runs in 12 Tests, which includes three centuries and four fifties, at an average of 47.23.
However, Rasheed is not impressed with the fact that the Sialkot native can’t maintain his form across different formats, especially considering he is supposed to be one of the brightest prospects in Pakistan right now.
“He tends to succumb to nerves in international cricket,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Shafique will be back in action for Pakistan during their two-Test tour of Sri Lanka, which will be held in Galle and Colombo from July 16 to 28.
Pakistan Squad for Sri Lanka Test Series:Â Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc & wk), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Muhammad Huraira, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood