Pakistan head coach Saqlain Mushtaq on Monday mentioned shedding injured Shaheen Shah Afridi for the upcoming Asia Cup is a “big blow” however backed its bowling unit to ship the products within the continental event.
Saqlain backed Naseem Shah to carry out within the Asia Cup after the right-arm pacer shone within the three-match ODI sequence in opposition to the Netherlands at Rotterdam. “Obviously, losing Shaheen before the tournament and for the England series is a big blow for us because he is someone who has proven himself at the top level and has done well against the best batsmen,” Saqlain mentioned. “It isn’t straightforward to interchange a participant like Shaheen due to his high quality however the sources we’ve and the help we’ve to offer them to us.
“Naseem, I’m making a star due to the management, aggression, angle and execution I’ve displayed in my bowling. He has been very influential for us.” Saqlain mentioned that Naseem has not but made his T20 debut and helped Pakistan win the final match by 9 runs.
“He (Naseem) modified the course of the match and the opposite bowlers supported him nicely.
“His (Afridi’s) injury is unfortunate but we are hoping he recovers as soon as we have important cricket coming up.” Pakistan’s selectors on Monday named younger pacer Mohammad Hasnain instead of Afridi for the Asia Cup to be held within the United Arab Emirates.
Former Test off-spinner Saqlain mentioned that total Pakistan have a compact bowling assault which is able to performing nicely in opposition to all of the groups.
“We are involved in all the bases and although the fast bowlers are not that experienced, they have a lot of confidence and spirit.” Asked concerning the criticism on the crew choice points, Saqlain mentioned: “Performance is something that may or may not happen but before we decide to play him there is attitude, hard work in the nets, mental attitude and Let’s look at a player’s work ethic.”
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
