Pakistan’s leg-spinner, Shadab Khan is one of the integral cogs in Pakistan’s Cricket team. Interestingly, he made his international debut under the leadership of Sarfaraz Khan. The latter was leading the team across all formats when Shadab Khan announced his arrival in international cricket. The 23-year old is currently playing under the captaincy of Babar Azam.
The Pakistan leg-spinner, recently, drew comparisons between Babar Azam and Sarfaraz Khan with regards to their captaincy styles. Shadab reckons that Sarfaraz Khan was expressive on the field, while Babar Azam doesn’t like to show his emotions too much.
“Sarfaraz was an active captain on the field, whereas Babar Azam does not depict his emotions much and stays calm. He said that Babar got under pressure in his early phase of captaincy but he is well settled now,” Shadab was quoted as saying.
The 23-year-old leg-spinner is a mainstay in Pakistan’s ODI and T20I teams. Khan has 69 and 73 wickets in 51 ODIs and 64 T20 internationals respectively. However, he has only played 6 Test matches for Pakistan so far in his international cricket career. Shadab has the desire to play Test cricket for Pakistan but also understands the fact that it isn’t easy to get into the Test team right now.
“I want to play Test cricket, but to be honest, I think I can’t take my place in the Test squad right now. I have not played first-class cricket for quite a while but I want to make a comeback in the premium format of the game because there is nothing more charming than playing Test cricket for your country,” he added.
Shadab Khan exhibited a sensational performance for Pakistan in the ICC 20-20 World Cup 2021. His outstanding performances with the ball helped the team reach the semi-final of the tournament. He bowled beautifully in the semi-final match against Australia as well, returning with bowling figures of 4 for 26 in 4 overs but couldn’t help the team win that game.
