Pakistan’s U19 fast bowler making headlines for his raw pace

Pakistan has a history of producing genuine fast bowlers over the years. They have unearthed great fast bowlers in the yesteryears: Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar. Following their retirements, the likes of Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amir stepped up in the shoes of these greats.

Shaheen Shah can crank it up

But the spot-fixing saga of 2010 in England forced both these fine fast bowlers to be forced out of action for five years. While Amir has forced a phenomenal return to international cricket, Asif still remains in the wilderness of domestic and club cricket. Recently, an U19 bowler has been creating waves in domestic cricket. Khyber-born Shaheen Afradi Shah has impressed a lot of people with his raw pace and decent control. Only just 17, Shah can crank it up at 145 kmph and possesses a bit of both Wasim and Amir according to his coach.

17 year old FATA pace bowler Shaheen Shah whose coach says can bowl at 145kph & has a bit of Wasim Akram & Mohammad Amir about him #Cricket pic.twitter.com/QCYnoCP4rx

— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) July 26, 2017

Surprisingly, the teenager hasn’t made a debut in men’s professional cricket yet. He has represented Pakistan at the U19 level and it won’t be long before a first class debut beckons for Shah.

Talent pool of Pakistan is impressive

After a quiet period in international cricket, Pakistan are on the way up as far as their cricket is concerned. Recently, they lifted the ICC Champions Trophy in England beating India by 180 runs in the finals. A fine young talent – Fakhar Zaman – was discovered during the course of the tournament. It was Zaman who scored a rollicking hundred and crushed India at The Oval last month.

With talents like Shaheen Shah coming up, Pakistan’s talent pool looks in good stead. In Sarfaraz Ahmed, they have a great leader, who can help achieving them great heights. Their next objective would be to qualify directly for the ICC World Cup in 2019. As things stand, they stand a decent chance of doing that as they are in the top 8 ranked teams in ODIs at the moment.