I was under pressure to bowl like Amir: Usman Khan Shinwari

Usman Khan Shinwari has hogged all the limelight since his heroics in the final ODI against Sri Lanka on Monday. His sensational five-wicket haul helped Pakistan clean sweep the visitors, their first since 2008. The left-arm seamer stunned everyone with his swinging ability and bamboozled the already struggling batting line-up of Sri Lanka. However, he has revealed he was under immense pressure from his relatives to bowl like Mohammad Amir.

Amir injured himself during the Test series and was eventually ruled out from the limited-overs leg against the island nation. Shinwari made his debut in the fourth One-Day International of the series but left his long-lasting impact in the second game of his career. His wonderful spell reduced the visitors to 20/5 within first seven overs from which they never recovered and were bowled out for only 103.

Don’t compare me with Amir

Usman Khan Shinwari has urged his fans not to compare him with Mohammad Amir who had taken the world by storm in the early days of his career. He still remains vital cog of the line-up for Pakistan and moreover has made a successful comeback to the side after serving a 5-year suspension for his involvement in spot-fixing. Usman who replaced him in the team admitted that he was under pressure from relatives to bowl like him and get wickets for the country.

There was pressure on me, as I was told even by my relatives to perform like Amir under whose place I was selected into the team,” he said as quoted by BBC Urdu. The 23-year-old now would love to continue his good work in the future as well and the team management has to manage his workload to keep him away from injuries. Pakistan will now play a three-match T20I series starting from Wednesday against Sri Lanka and look to replicate the performance in the ODIs.