Grant Bradburn: “Yasir Shah is also part of our plan”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Grant Bradburn, the Pakistan head coach, has insisted that spinner Yasir Shah still remains in the national selectors’ plans going forward.
Yasir has mainly been used in Test cricket, but last played a match back in July 2022.
With players such as Noman Ali and Abrar Ahmed having leapfrogged him on the pecking order, there had been doubts about whether the 37-year-old from Swabi would play another game for Pakistan.
Despite all the uncertainty, Bradburn has put the doubts to rest by confirming that the senior spinner is still on the fringe of selection.
“Yasir Shah is also part of our plan,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan recently defeated Sir Lanka 2-0 in a Test series before going on to whitewash Afghanistan 3-0 in an ODI series.
They are now playing in the Asia Cup, where they started with a dominant 238-run win over Nepal.
Pakistan then had to share one point apiece with India as their highly-anticipated clash ended on a soggy note since the rain came down after the men in blue were bowled out for 266.
Despite this, the men in green advanced to the Super Four stage and proceeded to cruise to a seven-wicket win over Bangladesh in Lahore.
However, they faltered in their next match against India as they were comprehensively beaten by 228 runs.
Pakistan will look to bounce back from that loss when they go up against Sri Lanka on September 14 in Colombo.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan.
Travelling reserve: Tayyab Tahir