Misbah-ul-Haq: “Shadab, even if you look at [his] bowling [against India], he didn’t have that confidence to land the ball [in] the right place”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq has expressed his concerns about spinner Shadab Khan’s confidence.
He noted that during the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, the 25-year-old wasn’t able to maintain the right line and length when bowling, which resulted in him leaking a lot of runs.
Shadab had a forgettable campaign as he finished with two wickets in six matches at an average of 118.50 and an economy rate of 6.23.
“Shadab, even if you look at [his] bowling [against India], he didn’t have that confidence to land the ball [in] the right place,” Misbah was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan triumphed in their first two matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before suffering four straight defeats against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
They fought back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, but it was not enough to earn them a spot in the semi-finals.
The men in green ended their campaign in disappointing fashion as they lost to England by 93 runs.
Pakistan will now play a three-match Test series against Australia, but Shadab was not included in the 18-man squad.
The first Test between Pakistan and Australia 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