Pakistan were handed a blow before the start of the Asia Cup itself when their pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi was sidelined with an injury. However, his absence was not felt too keenly, as their bowling attack was then propped up by Naseem Shah, who made his T20I debut in the tournament. The 19-year-old took seven wickets in the tournament as Pakistan finished as runners up.
Afridi has emerged as the leader of Pakistan's bowling attack in all formats in recent years and Naseem has shown that he too can do the same. Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has said that, with the T20 World Cup to be played in Australia this year, facing both Naseem and Afridi if the latter is fit enough to play would be a nightmare for batters.
“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," opined the 45-year old.
Jayawardene particularly praised Naseem who took seven wickets in the 2022 Asia Cup at an economy of 7.66. He appreciated the 19-year-old for his matured bowling with accuracy.
{{/usCountry}}Jayawardene particularly praised Naseem who took seven wickets in the 2022 Asia Cup at an economy of 7.66. He appreciated the 19-year-old for his matured bowling with accuracy.
{{/usCountry}}"I’ve been following Naseem for a while now. Obviously, they have used him a lot in red-ball cricket, in Test match cricket because of his pace," shared the former Sri Lanka cricketer.
"They did not back him too much with the accuracy with the white-ball format but lately, with a lot of cricket being played, he has come of age and the control that he showed, especially with the new ball, picking up wickets … that’s the key element,” added Jayawardene.
Talking about Pakistan's pace unit, the Sri Lankan further said "With the two youngsters, they’ve got a really, really good pace unit. And Naseem has been brilliant, I was really impressed by the way he went about things. The skills, especially bringing the ball back into the right-handers, the way he swung the ball with that kind of pace.”