Waqar Younis: “Naseem is a good bowler and doesn’t give many runs away”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan fast bowling hero Waqar Younis has called pace sensation Naseem Shah a “good bowler” as he doesn’t leak a lot of runs when bowling.
Naseem had been in exceptional form in the lead-up to the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup and was expected to play a massive role for the men in green in the tournament.
However, he never got the chance to feature in the competition as he was ruled out after suffering a shoulder injury during the Asia Cup.
The 20-year-old was also not picked for the upcoming tour of Australia, which prompted Waqar to acknowledge that his absence will hurt the men in green.
In addition to the Australia series, Naseem could also miss the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL) as well.
“Naseem is a good bowler and doesn’t give many runs away,” he told AFP as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan started their World Cup campaign with consecutive wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before they lost all their momentum as they lost to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
They managed to fight back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, but it wasn’t enough to earn them a spot in the semi-finals.
To add insult to injury, Pakistan lost their last group stage match against England by 93 runs.
Pakistan’s tour of Australia will consist of three Test matches and begin 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