Hunain Shah: “He was always waiting and it felt like he almost knew what type of ball I’ll bowl next. I think it is very hard to bowl at him”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan pace sensation Hunain Shah conceded he found it “very hard” to bowl to Babar Azam as “it felt like he almost knew what type of ball I’ll bowl next.”
Hunain and Azam battled during the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), with the former representing Islamabad United and the latter captaining the Peshawar Zalmi.
The 20-year-old, who is the younger brother of go-to Pakistan speedster Naseem Shah, added that Azam has the ability to “pick your variations very quickly”, which makes it even more of a nightmare to bowl to him.
“He is a type of player, when we talk about power hitting, batsmen have hard hands and are looking to hit every ball out of the park,” Hunain told Cricwick. “Babar bhai is a type of player who is watching every ball, he stays very still and plays the ball very late. He can pick your variations very quickly and he had trapped me quite badly.
“He was always waiting and it felt like he almost knew what type of ball I’ll bowl next. I think it is very hard to bowl at him.”
Azam ended up being the highest run-scorer in PSL 9 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.
As for Hunain, he finished with eight wickets in 10 matches at an average of 28.12 and an economy rate of 9.50.
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
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