Shoaib Akhtar: “He seams the ball more than Shaheen and can penetrate more”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Shoaib Akhtar believes Pakistan fast bowler Naseem Shah “seams the ball more” than pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi and is capable of doing great damage as well.
Naseem had been doing just that over the past couple of months as he was ripping through opposition teams’ batting line-ups with exceptional bowling, where he utilised his swing and overall pace.
While this is great to see, Akhtar wants the 20-year-old to keep doing it consistently, especially now that he is an entrusted member of Pakistan’s pace attack in all three formats.
“He seams the ball more than Shaheen and can penetrate more,” he told Star Sports as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Naseem was supposed to be representing Pakistan in the ongoing 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India, but was ruled out after suffering a shoulder injury during the Asia Cup.
In fact, the young pace sensation could even miss Pakistan’s tour of Australia at the end of 2023 and the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL) as well.
Pakistan started their World Cup campaign on a high as they beat the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.
Things began to fall apart after that as they lost to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
However, Pakistan kept their World Cup semi-final hopes alive with impressive wins over Bangladesh and New Zealand.
The men in green will now face England on November 11 in Kolkata.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali
[TS_Poll id=”87″]