Naseem Shah: “I was bowling at him and I bowled a yorker and the ball was reversing. It was a perfect yorker and he ran it down to third man, I felt this was unfair”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan seamer Naseem Shah admitted he was shocked at how easily batsman Babar Azam played his reverse swinging yorker when they battled against each other in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Naseem played for Islamabad United, who won PSL 9, while Azam captained the Peshawar Zalmi.
When the two superstars clashed, Naseem tried to dismiss Azam with a toe-crushing yorker, but the 29-year-old “ran it down to third man.”
Naseem conceded he could not believe how easy Azam made the shot look and felt it was almost “unfair.”
“I was bowling at him and I bowled a yorker and the ball was reversing. It was a perfect yorker and he ran it down to third man, I felt this was unfair,” Naseem, who was laughing, told Cricwick.
“In T20s, you bowl that length ball which is the best one to bowl in this format, he can open the face and get a boundary. Against such players, you rarely get that feeling he can get out quickly.”
Azam ended PSL 9 as the highest run-scorer with 569 runs in 11 games, which included a century and five fifties, at an average of 56.90 and a strike-rate of 142.60.
Naseem, meanwhile, picked up 15 wickets in 11 matches at an average of 22.20 and an economy rate of 7.56.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 9: Babar Azam (captain), Rovman Powell, Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Asif Ali, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Naveen-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Salman Irshad, Arif Yaqoob, Umair Afridi, Dan Mousley, Haseebullah Khan, Mohammad Zeeshan, Mehran Mumtaz, Luke Wood, Sufiyan Muqeem, Waqar Salamkheil, Arshad Iqbal, Gus Atkinson, Shamar Joseph
Islamabad United Squad for PSL 9: Shadab Khan (captain), Naseem Shah, Jordan Cox, Imad Wasim, Azam Khan, Tymal Mills, Faheem Ashraf, Alex Hales, Colin Munro, Rumman Raees, Matthew Forde, Salman Ali Agha, Qasim Akram, Shahab Khan, Hunain Shah, Ubaid Shah, Shamyl Hussain, Obed McCoy, Haider Ali, Muhammad Waseem