Harbhajan Singh: “Shadab looks really good, but recently he is not bowling at his best”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh said Pakistan spin-bowling all-rounder Shadab Khan has not been “bowling at his best” as of late.
The 25-year-old is Pakistan’s first-choice spinner in white-ball cricket and is the vice-captain as well, which puts even more pressure on him to perform.
Lately, however, he hasn’t been getting the wickets expected of him, which has put a question mark on his spot in the national team.
The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup did nothing but increase speculation about his future as he was limited to two wickets in six matches at an average of 118.50 and an economy rate of 6.23.
Harbhajan admitted that while Shadab “looks really good” at times, he just hasn’t been getting the job done.
“Shadab looks really good, but recently he is not bowling at his best,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan started the World Cup with wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before suffering defeats at the hands of India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
They subsequently fought back with back-to-back wins over Bangladesh and New Zealand, which has kept them in the running for a spot in the semi-finals.
However, they failed to make it through to the final four and ended up losing their last group stage game against England by 93 runs.
Shadab is now playing domestic cricket as he was not selected for Pakistan’s upcoming three-Test series against Australia, which begins on December 14 in Perth.
The Mianwali native is representing Rawalpindi Region in the National T20 Cup, where he has picked up three wickets in three matches at an average of 24.66 and an economy rate of 7.40.
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