Shadab Khan has become the talk of the town in Pakistan. The young leg spinner has taken the world cricket by storm. He was part of the Islamabad United first and played for them this season. He bowled well and picked up wickets for his side.
His consistent performance earned him a spot in the Pakistan national side for the West Indies tour. Shadab has picked up two man of the match awards in the first two games so far. He has taken seven wickets in the two matches so far and still two are left here.
Shadab took three wickets in the first match and four in the second. It was his brilliant and economical bowling that gave Pakistan both the games especially the second one. Shadab Khan gave a special interview after the first game.
Pakistan cricket is known for producing stars who win praise and hearts through their performances as soon as they surface on the international scene and leg-spinner Shadab Khan has made it into that list with two man-of-the-match awards in as many matches.
A three-for in his debut T20I match against West Indies and now a four-for in the very next match, has put Shadab on cloud nine. The fledgling 18-year-old’s ambitions for the future are quite clear — help Pakistan win, whenever and wherever possible.
“I try to deliver performances which are good for the team. On this tour [and for the future] my only goal is to help Pakistan win,” said Shadab in a video interview on the Pakistan Cricket Board’s Facebook page.
Shadab came on to bowl the eighth over for Pakistan in the first T20I. They say the pressure of an international match, while wearing your country’s jersey, is immense but it only took the youngster one ball to set a target for himself; he wanted to dismiss a batsman.
“In the start, the first time I came to bowl, I was a little nervous,” said Shadab. “I bowled the first ball without any thoughts in my mind, I just bowled it. However, with the second delivery, I wanted to go for a wicket and it happened.”
Shadab dismissed Chadwick Walton LBW with a googly, Lendll Simmons dragged his leg-break delivery onto his stumps and Sunil Narine was caught at long-on in the first T20I trying to clear the fielder but which one was his favourite?
“Narine’s wicket was my favourite,” said Shadab. “He was playing the spinners well in PSL2 and had hit me for two sixes as well. So he was playing me better than anyone so I wanted to get him out.”
Shadab the leggie, equipped with a befuddling googly and impressive control, says he never saw any videos of anyone to get inspiration from. However, he thanks Pakistan leg-spin legend Mushtaq Ahmed for his help in the academy.
“I didn’t really have an inspiration in mind,” he said. “Mushtaq bhai can be one but I don’t watch too many videos of anyone. When I came into the academy, Mushtaq bhai used to give me small tips but they were quite helpful; I benefited a lot from them.”
When asked how he learnt to bowl a googly that has proven incredibly hard to pick, Shadab said: “Leg-spin is also one of my potent weapons while bowling, it is not only the googly. So I am trying to improve both. I am still learning and I’ll improve.”
His consistent performance earned him a spot in the Pakistan national side for the West Indies tour. Shadab has picked up two man of the match awards in the first two games so far. He has taken seven wickets in the two matches so far and still two are left here.
Shadab took three wickets in the first match and four in the second. It was his brilliant and economical bowling that gave Pakistan both the games especially the second one. Shadab Khan gave a special interview after the first game.
Pakistan cricket is known for producing stars who win praise and hearts through their performances as soon as they surface on the international scene and leg-spinner Shadab Khan has made it into that list with two man-of-the-match awards in as many matches.
A three-for in his debut T20I match against West Indies and now a four-for in the very next match, has put Shadab on cloud nine. The fledgling 18-year-old’s ambitions for the future are quite clear — help Pakistan win, whenever and wherever possible.
“I try to deliver performances which are good for the team. On this tour [and for the future] my only goal is to help Pakistan win,” said Shadab in a video interview on the Pakistan Cricket Board’s Facebook page.
Shadab came on to bowl the eighth over for Pakistan in the first T20I. They say the pressure of an international match, while wearing your country’s jersey, is immense but it only took the youngster one ball to set a target for himself; he wanted to dismiss a batsman.
“In the start, the first time I came to bowl, I was a little nervous,” said Shadab. “I bowled the first ball without any thoughts in my mind, I just bowled it. However, with the second delivery, I wanted to go for a wicket and it happened.”
Shadab dismissed Chadwick Walton LBW with a googly, Lendll Simmons dragged his leg-break delivery onto his stumps and Sunil Narine was caught at long-on in the first T20I trying to clear the fielder but which one was his favourite?
“Narine’s wicket was my favourite,” said Shadab. “He was playing the spinners well in PSL2 and had hit me for two sixes as well. So he was playing me better than anyone so I wanted to get him out.”
Shadab the leggie, equipped with a befuddling googly and impressive control, says he never saw any videos of anyone to get inspiration from. However, he thanks Pakistan leg-spin legend Mushtaq Ahmed for his help in the academy.
“I didn’t really have an inspiration in mind,” he said. “Mushtaq bhai can be one but I don’t watch too many videos of anyone. When I came into the academy, Mushtaq bhai used to give me small tips but they were quite helpful; I benefited a lot from them.”
When asked how he learnt to bowl a googly that has proven incredibly hard to pick, Shadab said: “Leg-spin is also one of my potent weapons while bowling, it is not only the googly. So I am trying to improve both. I am still learning and I’ll improve.”
Comments
Post a Comment