Chaminda Vaas: “There is Naseem Shah. A top bowler in the world”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Chaminda Vaas, the iconic Sri Lanka left-arm seamer, has branded Pakistan pace sensation Naseem Shah as one of the top bowlers in the sport right now.
Naseem has been taking international cricket by storm as he has established himself as an elite swing bowler who takes wickets regularly.
The 20-year-old started his career only playing Test cricket, but has now become an invaluable part of the pace attack in limited overs cricket as well.
“There is Naseem Shah. A top bowler in the world,” Vaas told the Hindustan Times.
Naseem recently took nine wickets in two Tests against Sri Lanka at an average of 23.
He followed that up with two wickets in two ODIs against Afghanistan at an average of 28.50.
Recently, he was involved in the Asia Cup and finished with seven wickets in four games at an average of 20.
Pakistan started their campaign with a 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India as their match was washed out.
Having booked their spot in the Super Fours, the men in green maintained their momentum with a seven-wicket win over Bangladesh.
However, everything started to go wrong for them from that point on as they lost to India by 228 runs.
Despite still having a chance to make it to the Asia Cup final, Pakistan failed to do so as Sri Lanka beat them by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
To make matters worse, Naseem suffered an injury to his shoulder during the loss to India and could miss the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, Pakistan’s tour of Australia at the end of the year, and potentially the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 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:Â Tayyab Tahir