Mohammad Abbas

Mohammad Abbas' journey to cricket can be compared with any Bollywood movie. Coming from a humble background, he had to struggle hard in a leather factory to earn his bread. In spite of all the shortcomings, he never let his cricketer inside him die. His passion for bowling is simply unparallel and along with that, he has the ability to swing the ball both ways even in unforgiving conditions.

After a lot of hard work put into bowling, he finally managed to get the breakthrough. He made his debut in FC cricket for Sialkot in 2009. Quaid-e-Azam trophy was won by his team, however, his effort wasn't a noteworthy one as he bagged just four wickets in his three appearances. It was a real struggle for him after that but he came back strongly in the 2015-16 domestic competition by picking up 61 wickets in just 10 games. He followed it up with another outstanding season next year where he snapped 71 wickets at an average under 13.

All his outstanding efforts forced the national selectors to take note of him and Abbas eventually got a call for the Windies tour. He picked up 15 wickets in his debut Test series and proved his selection right. Soon he became an obvious choice in the pace department for Pakistan in Test cricket.

Abbas continued his good run of form and fared well in the series against Sri Lanka and Ireland that followed. He became the talk of the town after amassing 8 wickets in the Lord's Test which helped Pakistan take a 1-0 lead in the series. That stupendous performance also made him the first Pakistan bowler to grab 40 wickets in the first seven Tests, beating Mohammad Amir and Yasir Shah. Given his immaculate control over the ball, Abbas has all the attributes to make it big.