Mudassar Nazar: “He was bowling at a speed of 120 km per hour, and his body language was not right either. He seemed quite tired. So, one thing is that his fitness is not up to the standard required for a Test bowler”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan batsman Mudassar Nazar believes speedster Khurram Shahzad is not fit enough to be a Test bowler after he appeared to be “quite tired” and bowled at 120 kph during the three-match Test series against Australia.
Shahzad made his international debut in the first Test in Perth, where he showed plenty of potential as he finished with five wickets at an average of 25.60.
However, he missed the remainder of the series after being diagnosed with a rib stress fracture and abdominal muscle tear.
Nazar pointed out that while the 24-year-old from Mandi Bahauddin didn’t bowl badly, his “body language was not right either”, which put further doubts in his mind as to whether he is ready for the hardships of Test cricket.
“Khurram, although he did not bowl poorly, but the next day when he came in the morning, he was bowling at a speed of 120 km per hour, and his body language was not right either. He seemed quite tired. So, one thing is that his fitness is not up to the standard required for a Test bowler,” he told Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan lost the Test series against Australia 3-0 and are now involved in a five-match T20I series against New Zealand, where they trail 2-0 after losing the first two games by 46 runs and 21 runs respectively.
The third T20I will be held on January 17 in Dunedin.
Pakistan Squad for New Zealand T20I Series: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abbas Afridi, Azam Khan (wicketkeeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Usama Mir and Zaman Khan