Umar Gul: “Naseem’s injury has affected us greatly”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
New Pakistan fast bowling coach Umar Gul admitted that the loss of pace bowler Naseem Shah has profoundly affected the national team.
Naseem had been in tremendous form in the lead-up to the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup as he was generating beautiful swing and taking plenty of wickets.
However, he was ruled out of the tournament after suffering a shoulder injury during the Asia Cup.
During the World Cup, Naseem’s absence was greatly felt as Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-finals.
“Naseem’s injury has affected us greatly,” Gul was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan won their first two matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing their next four games against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite fighting back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they were unable to advance to the final four.
To add insult to injury, the men in green lost their last group stage match against England by 93 runs.
Since he is still recovering from his shoulder injury, Naseem was not picked for Pakistan’s upcoming three-match Test series against Australia, which will get 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