‘My debut was the toughest day of my life’ – Naseem Shah recalls his mother’s tragic death before his first game for Pakistan

One of the most gifted pacers in contemporary cricket is widely regarded to be Naseem Shah, a rising star from Pakistan. Naseem, who made his Pakistani Test debut in 2019, has quickly established himself as one of the team’s key players in all formats. To date, he has participated in 14 Tests and 16 T20 Internationals. He was also one of Pakistan’s primary fast bowlers in the recently finished 20-20 World Cup.

The pacer, however, experienced the most difficult start to his international career in 2019 when he lost his mother just one day before making his Pakistani debut. At the age of 16, Naseem overcame the tragedy to play for Pakistan against Australia in Brisbane, where he claimed David Warner in the team’s lone innings. Naseem has opened up about the event that changed his life three years later.

No one thinks about what’s going inside you: Naseem Shah

“I was too attached with my mom. When I was 12, I left home because of cricket. I shifted to Lahore. When my debut came, she called me a day before and I told her, ‘tomorrow is my debut’. She didn’t use to watch TV, she didn’t understand cricket. But I told her, ‘you must watch the game tomorrow because I’m playing, I’ll be live on TV’.

“She was so happy, she said she would come to Lahore to watch the game. When I woke up, the management came to me and said, ‘you mom has passed away’,” Naseem recalled during an interview with Nasser Hussain for Sky Sports Cricket.

“For the next six-to-eight months, I struggled so much. No one thinks about what’s going inside you. I used to have a lot of medicines, I saw my mom everywhere. I used to think about her a lot. Whenever you play for Pakistan, everyone expects performances from you. I had a lot of injuries during that time as well, so it was a tough time. I learned from it, though. I’m stronger now. My (Pakistan) debut was the toughest day of my life. I can manage when I’m not performing well now, because I know how tough it was,” Naseem said further.