Nasser Hussain: “That is a seriously potent bowling attack, and those three seamers in particular”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes Pakistan should continue to pick Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf as their go-to fast bowlers since they combine to form “a seriously potent bowling attack.”
The trio have been brutally effective in ODIs and T20Is, taking wickets and slicing through opposition teams’ batting line-ups.
Even though the men in green have a number of up-and-coming speedsters, such as Ihsansullah, Zaman Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Mohammad Hasnain, Hussain doesn’t want them to make any changes right now.
“That is a seriously potent bowling attack, and those three seamers in particular,” he said on Sky Sports as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Afridi and Rauf recently played in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, with the former taking 18 wickets in nine matches, which included a five-wicket haul against champions Australia, at an average of 26.72.
Rauf, meanwhile, claimed 16 wickets in nine games at an average of 33.31.
As for Naseem, he was ruled out of the World Cup after suffering a shoulder injury during the Asia Cup.
Pakistan started the World Cup with successive wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before faltering against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite fighting back to defeat 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 match against England by 93 runs.
Afridi will now play for Pakistan in their three-match Test series against Australia, while Naseem was not considered for selection since he is still recovering from his shoulder injury.
Rauf was supposed to be included in the squad, but pulled out at the last minute due to concerns about his workload.
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