Mushtaq Ahmed: “Usama Mir, Zahid Mahmood, Yasir Shah, and Shadab Khan should play first-class matches, so that they can understand their bowling”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan cricketer Mushtaq Ahmed believes Usama Mir, Zahid Mahmood, Yasir Shah, and Shadab Khan should play more first-class cricket as they will benefit from bowling longer spells.
Shadab and Mir have been utilised by Pakistan in limited overs cricket, while Yasir was once the first-choice spinner in Test cricket before eventually losing his spot in the team.
As for Mahmood, he has only played sporadically and hasn’t been given a consistent run to show what he can do.
In order to become better bowlers and stay on the selectors’ radar, Mushtaq advised all four of them to play as much first-class cricket as possible and bowl at least 20 to 25 overs.
“Usama Mir, Zahid Mahmood, Yasir Shah, and Shadab Khan should play first-class matches, so that they can understand their bowling,” he told Cricket Pakistan.
“They should bowl 20 to 25 overs to figure out their action and rhythm, understand how to read pitches, and learn when to attack or not, and read the batters. All these aspects are crucial, and it’s important to have these experiences in first-class cricket.”
The Pakistan team were recently whitewashed 3-0 in their Test series against Australia and then went on to lose 4-1 in a five-match T20I series against New Zealand.
Shadab will now captain Islamabad United in the 2024 Pakistan Super League, while Mir will represent the Multan Sultans.
As for Yasir and Mahmood, they weren’t picked by any team for PSL 9, which will be held from February 17 to March 18 in four cities – Lahore, Multan, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Islamabad United Squad for PSL 9: Shadab Khan (captain), Naseem Shah, Imad Wasim, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Alex Hales, Colin Munro, Rumman Raees, Matthew Forde, Salman Ali Agha, Qasim Akram, Shahab Khan, Hunain Shah, Ubaid Shah, Shamyl Hussain, Tom Curran (reserved), Obed McCoy, Haider Ali
Multan Sultans Squad for PSL 9: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Usama Mir, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah, Faisal Akram, David Willey, Dawid Malan, Reece Topley, Reeza Hendricks, Tayyab Tahir, Shahnawaz Dahani, Mohammad Ali, Usman Khan, Yasir Khan, Chris Jordan, Aftab Ibrahim, Johnson Charles, Mohammad Shahzad