Shan Masood: “Never easy resting your two premier bowlers”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood said the pace duo of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah are the team’s “two premier bowlers”.
Afridi and Naseem are Pakistan’s go-to fast bowlers in all three formats and have gained a reputation for taking early wickets with the new ball.
In the recent two-Test series against Bangladesh, both of them were rested for the second match – a decision Masood admitted wasn’t an easy one to make.
“Never easy resting your two premier bowlers,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
Afridi finished the Test series with two wickets to his name, while Naseem took three as Pakistan went on to be whitewashed 2-0.
Afridi is now captaining the Lions in the Champions One-Day Cup, which is a domestic 50-over competition being played in Faisalabad.
So far, he has snapped up seven wickets in three matches at an average of 29.42.
As for Naseem, he has claimed six wickets in three games at an average of 13.16.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a three-Test series against England, which is set to be held from October 7 to 28.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi