Naseem Shah sends warning signals to India ahead of Asia Cup and World Cup 2023

Add as a preferred source on Google

India don't possess a threat from Shaheen Shah Afridi or Haris Rauf in their upcoming matches against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2023 and World Cup 2023. Left-arm pacer Afridi ran through the Indian top-order in the T20 World Cup 2021 by picking the prized wickets of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

The Men in Blue have time and again struggled against quality left-arm pace bowling and therefore many would think that the side will make special plans for Afridi. Haris Rauf has also created a name for himself with his raw pace and fans are eagerly waiting to see him in action against the start-studded Indian batting line-up.

However, it's 20-year-old Naseem Shah who has sent a warning signal to Rohit Sharma's India. On Thursday during the Day 5 of the second Test against Sri Lanka, he bowled one of the best spells of reverse bowling with the old to grab the attention of the cricket fraternity.

Naseem Shah's 7.4 overs (46 balls) spell consisted of 37 dot balls. He bowled beautifully throughout but failed to take a single wicket on the first 40 deliveries. However, he made up for it by picking three wickets on the last six deliveries to clean Sri Lanka's tail and bundle them out for 188.

Despite no help for fast bowlers from the surface, the young speedster kept running in hard in the extremely humid conditions and bowled his heart out to finally be rewarded with the last three wickets of the Sri Lankan second innings.

The magic which Naseem produced with the old ball on a spin-friendly subcontinent surface, got many eyes rolling in India. Notably, India will face Pakistan in Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup 2023. The World Cup 2023 will also be played on similar surfaces in India.

The rapid stride Naseem is making in international cricket has left the Indian fans fretting on the prospect of the right-armer testing Indian batters on the biggest stage with his newly acquired skills, experience and confidence.

Not to forget, Naseem was Pakistan's best when the Babar Azam-led side last faced India at the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. In his four overs, Naseem gave away just one boundary and bowled as many as 10 dot balls to finish with figures of 1/23 in four overs. He cleaned the stumps of KL Rahul in the second over of the match to put India under immediate pressure.

He gave away just six runs against Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya in the 17th over before the former took Shaheen and Haris to the cleaners on the 18th and 19th over and led India to a thrilling four-wicket win in a last-ball thriller a the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).