Ahmed Shehzad: “Usama Mir, we had been saying [to] give him chances before the World Cup to give him confidence… see, Usama is a wrist-spinner. He’s more effective when the ball is old”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan top order batsman Ahmed Shehzad believes spinner Usama Mir deserved more chances to play for the national team prior to the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
He noted that if Mir had gotten more game time before the tournament, it would have done his confidence a world of good.
During the World Cup, the 27-year-old from Sialkot took four wickets in four games at an average of 62 and an economy rate of 7.08.
Since Pakistan utilised their go-to spinners Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz in the other matches, Shehzad feels it is unfair to judge Mir based on the few games he played.
“Usama Mir, we had been saying [to] give him chances before the World Cup to give him confidence… see, Usama is a wrist-spinner. He’s more effective when the ball is old,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan won their first two matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing four in a row to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they fought back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to progress to the semi-finals.
To add insult to injury, the men in green lost their last group stage match against England by 93 runs.
Mir was not picked for Pakistan’s upcoming three-match Test series against Australia, which begins 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
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