Pakistan star pacer, Naseem Shah, made his T20I debut in style in the recently concluded Asia Cup 2022, taking seven wickets at an economy rate of 7.66, and has now been named to the squad for the T20 World Cup 2022.
Naseem’s exceptional outing in Asia Cup also impressed former Sri Lankan captain, Mahela Jayawardena, who believes that pacers like Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi can pose a real threat to batters in the upcoming T20 World Cup, as the Australian conditions aid pacers, particularly in the first few overs.
Speaking in ICC Review, Mahela said, “In Australian conditions, those guys will be a handful. Especially for quite a few opening batsmen, it will be a nightmare if Shaheen and Naseem bowl in tandem from both ends.”
While praising the 20-year-old pacer, the legendary batter said that Pakistan has a quality pace unit that has impressed him, especially when it comes to bringing the ball back into the right-handers with that kind of pace.
In response to a question about Naseem’s new ball skill, Mahela said that Pakistan tested him in red-ball cricket, but the control he has shown in white-ball cricket, particularly with the new ball, is encouraging for the team.
It is pertinent to mention here that in his debut series against the Netherlands, Naseem became the first Pakistani bowler to take ten wickets in the first three ODIs, surpassing Abdul Qadir and Abdur Rauf.
