Ramiz Raja: “Naseem Shah is not available, Pakistan are missing him a lot”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja believes the men in green are really missing fast bowler Naseem Shah a lot.
Naseem was in fabulous form in the lead-up to the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, but ended up being ruled out of the tournament after suffering a shoulder injury during the Asia Cup.
Since he was also not picked in the squad for Pakistan’s tour of Australia, Ramiz acknowledged that it will be tough for the national team to adjust without him.
To make matters worse, Naseem may miss the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL) as well.
“Naseem Shah is not available, Pakistan are missing him a lot,” he told Jio Cinema as quoted by NDTV.
Pakistan began their World Cup campaign with consecutive wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before falling to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite stopping their four-game skid with back-to-back victories over Bangladesh and New Zealand, it wasn’t enough to earn them a semi-final spot.
To add insult to injury, Pakistan lost their last group stage game against England by 93 runs.
Pakistan’s tour of Australia will consist of three Test matches, with the first Test getting underway on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi