Pakistan leg-spinner, Yasir Shah has been one of the best spinners in the Pakistan Test setup for almost a decade but he looks to have fallen out of favor with the selectors for the last couple of years.
Before the historic Test series against Australia last month, captain Babar Azam had said that Yasir Shah was not fit to be included in playing XI. It is pertinent to mention here that Yasir Shah was in the reserve pool of players for the series.
Pakistan lost the Test series 0-1 to Australia and Yasir’s absence in the bowling department was felt as Nauman Ali and Sajid Khan were below-par.
During the Australia tour, Nauman played all three matches and took just 9 wickets at an average of 42.22 while Sajid Ali managed only 4 wickets in his three matches at a very expensive average of 119.25.
| Players | Matches | Wickets | Overs | Average | Best Bowling |
| Nauman Ali | 3 | 9 | 121.1 | 42.22 | 6/107 |
| Sajid Khan | 3 | 4 | 156.0 | 119.25 | 2/167 |
On the other hand, Yasir who has 16 five-wicket hauls in Test matches, displayed an impressive performance during Pakistan Cup and led his side, Balochistan, to a maiden tournament victory.
Yasir played a total of 12 matches and took 24 wickets at an average of 22.66. He remained the second leading wicket-taker in the 2022 edition while his best bowling was 5/44.
| Matches | Wickets | Overs | Average | Best Bowling |
| 12 | 24 | 111.3 | 22.66 | 5/44 |
During the year 2021, Yasir Shah’s performance was not up to the mark as he played just 3 matches and took 8 wickets in Test cricket.
| Player | Matches | Wickets | Overs | Average | Best Bowling |
| Yasir Shah | 3 | 8 | 106.4 | 37.75 | 4/79 |
| Nauman Ali | 7 | 19 | 216.3 | 27.84 | 5/35 |
| Sajid Khan | 4 | 18 | 121.4 | 19.72 | 8/42 |
Overall, Yasir Shah remains a very successful Test spinner as he is the fastest Pakistani bowler to take 50 Test wickets, the joint-second fastest bowler in the history of Test cricket to take 100 wickets, and the fastest bowler to 200 wickets.
Here’s a comparison of the three spinners:
| Player | Match | Wickets | Econ | Average | Best Bowling |
| Yasir Shah | 46 | 235 | 3.20 | 31.08 | 8/41 |
| Nauman Ali | 10 | 28 | 2.69 | 32.46 | 6/107 |
| Sajid Khan | 7 | 22 | 2.99 | 37.81 | 8/42 |
