PSL 2020: Naseem Shah castles Sharjeel Khan with a beauty of a delivery

Naseem Shah, the 17-year-old has sparked the PSL with his gutsy pace and immaculate lines and lengths. His impressive show in Pakistan’s domestic cricket earned him a maiden call-up to the Pakistan senior side last year.

He was picked for the tour down under at the tender age of 16 and since then has been an essential part of Pakistan’s bowling line-up. He’s been more than impressive in the ongoing PSL and has played a vital part in his side, Quetta Gladiators’ wins this season.

Sharjeel Khan left clueless

And during the match 30 of the tournament against Karachi Kings, Naseem Shah was once again at his best and struck in the very first over of the innings. He went through Sharjeel Khan’s defences with his pace and the ball disturbed the timber on its way to the wicketkeeper. It was a back of a length delivery and wasn’t quite there to be pulled, but Sharjeel misjudged the length and went for a short-arm-jab, as he does more often than not.

He ended up missing it and the ball just clipped the top of his off stump. It was an early blow for the Kings in their last league game. After the wicket fell, Iftikhar Ahmed joined hands with Babar Azam for a 30-run stand. The innings was propelled to a hefty score of 150 courtesy Cameron Delport who scored 62(44) and Chadwick Walton who managed 26 in quick time.

The not-so-daunting total of 151 was chased down by Karachi with 22 balls to spare on the back of twin half-centuries by Shane Watson and Khurram Manzoor. The match ended on a disappointing note for Quetta as they couldn’t qualify for the semi-finals.

Shah’s impressive skills

Naseem Shah was equally adept with the new ball and the old ball in hand during the tournament. His skiddy action enables him to rush the batsmen and go big on them. He’s still a teenager and has tonnes to learn. But by the looks of it, it seems he has got a scorching future ahead if he keeps stepping on the gas.

The world yearns for seamers with raw pace and his next goal would be to bag a contract with a high-end franchise in a big-shot league. But prior to that, he will be looking to make his nation proud by producing impressive performances in upcoming games.

~Written by Yuvraj Dua