Nasser Hussain: “There’s a touch of class about Abdullah Shafique”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former England captain Nasser Hussain said he can see a “touch of class” in new Pakistan star Abdullah Shafique.
Shafique stole the spotlight during the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup as he was one of Pakistan’s best performers despite starting the tournament on the bench.
After the opening game against the Netherlands, he replaced Fakhar Zaman in the playing XI and made an instant impact as he scored a career-best 113 in his first match against Sri Lanka.
Overall, the 24-year-old from Sialkot finished with 336 runs in eight matches, which included a century and three fifties, at an average of 42.
Having seen Shafique in action, Hussain acknowledged there is something special about the young talent.
“There’s a touch of class about Abdullah Shafique,” he was quoted as saying by respected journalist Saj Sadiq on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Pakistan won their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before suffering four straight defeats at the hands of India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they fought back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to make it to the semi-finals.
To add insult to injury, the men in green lost their last group stage game against England by 93 runs.
Shafique will now represent Pakistan in their three-match Test series against Australia, which begins on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series:Â 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