The vice-captain of Pakistan’s limited-overs team and a strong contender to win the Player of the Tournament, Shadab Khan hopes to see a similar result at MCG as Imran Khan’s Pakistan saw in 1992, a World Cup victory.
Shadab Khan sat down with Nasser Hussain to discuss the mercurial yet miraculous journey of Pakistan from the verge of elimination to the final of the T20 World Cup 2022.
When talking about the start of the World Cup, Shadab Khan said that they had belief in their side because they almost won both of the matches before failing to finish the games. The vice-captain told that they could not win against India which is a high-profile game but they knew that they were a better side than India.
Looking back at the heart-wrenching defeat against Zimbabwe, Shadab Khan revealed that Mohammad Nawaz felt traumatized by the close defeats of the first two games as he could not forget his failure to defend 13 runs off 3 balls against India and score 3 runs off 3 balls against Zimbabwe.
When asked about the criticism Pakistan received early on in the campaign, Shadab Khan said that he has learned to ignore the negativity and he cherishes the fact that the fans support Pakistan no matter what the result.
The star all-rounder further stated that there was no pressure of the knock-out game against New Zealand in the semi-final because they have been playing virtual knock-outs since the third game of the tournament.
Shadab Khan also said that the final against England will be an interesting contest as they have the best batting lineup and Pakistan has the best bowling lineup.
The star player when questioned about the similarities of their World Cup campaign with that of Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup run, hoped that they produce the same result at the MCG.
Shadab Khan is Pakistan’s joint-highest wicket-taker for the tournament so far and he has also played a crucial part with the bat. The experts have also termed Shadab Khan as the driving force behind the transformation in Pakistan’s tactical approach praising his role as the vice-captain of the team.
Therefore, it will not be an exaggeration to say that Shadab Khan has lifted Pakistan from being almost out of the tournament to being almost favorites to win the trophy as they meet England at MCG tomorrow.
