Matthew Hayden: “You’ve got Shadab Khan through the middle for spinning and also a power-hitter”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Australia opener Matthew Hayden has heaped praise on underperforming Pakistan cricketer Shadab Khan, saying he is a good spinner and power-hitter.
Having previously worked with the Pakistan team as a mentor, Hayden knows how useful Shadab is in the middle overs.
However, the 25-year-old from Mianwali hasn’t been able to take wickets regularly as of late, which has become a major problem for the men in green.
Despite his wickets having dried up, Shadab has been performing well with the bat and brought some stability to the shaky middle order.
“You’ve got Shadab Khan through the middle for spinning and also a power-hitter,” Hayden told Star Sports as quoted by NDTV.
In the five-match T20I series against New Zealand, Shadab took three wickets at an average of 18 and an economy rate of 6.75.
He then went wicketless in one T20I against Ireland and two T20Is against England and conceded 54 runs off four overs and 75 runs off seven overs respectively.
Most recently, he featured in four matches in the 2024 T20 World Cup and failed to take a wicket yet again. To make matters worse, he didn’t even bowl in Pakistan’s games against India and Canada.
The men in green lost to the United States of America and India before fighting back to pick up wins over Canada and Ireland.
Despite this, Pakistan ended up being eliminated in the group stage of the tournament.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
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