Rajasthan Royals brutally troll Yasir Shah after Steven Smith becomes the fastest to 7000 Test runs

Yasir Shah is the ‘match-winner’ with the ball. He has broken a plethora of records on his way to 200 Test match wickets. But, that tag of match-winner- as with any other bowlers and batsmen of the current era- comes with a disclaimer boasting of ‘in favourable conditions only’. Every cricketer has a boggy country where no matter what he does, things just don’t turn out the way you want them to. Yasir Shah and Australian conditions fall into the uppermost echelon of the aforementioned category.

And, when your words are not backed up your performances, there is no place to hide. Which is exactly what has happened with Yasir Shah. The premier Pakistan spinner was brutally trolled by Steven Smith’s Rajasthan Royals franchise in reply to Shah’s seven-figure gesture (at the Gabba) after the former Australian captain became the fastest to score 7,000 runs in the history of red-ball cricket.

Earlier, India’s Sachin Tendulkar (136) and Virender Sehwag (134) had come the closest to break Sir Wally Hammond’s record of notching up 7,000 Test runs in record time. Hammond achieved the feat in 131 innings and it took Smith just 126 outings to leapfrog the former English legend.

The Royals social media handle posted a collage of Smith and Yasir which they captioned as, “My 7 is bigger than yours ✋✌ 😅” #AusvPak | #HallaBol | #RoyalsFamily

My 7 is bigger than yours ✋✌ 😅#AusvPak | #HallaBol | #RoyalsFamily pic.twitter.com/S9NtYpt4AC

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) November 30, 2019

Yasir Shah missed his double hundred by three runs

129, 45 (10 overs), 207, 167, 124, 205, 197- You look at these numbers, and you’d be like, Wow! And, then to your utter surprise, you find out that these are bowling figures of Yasir Shah in Australia. That’s 12 wickets at an average of 89.50. That’s mass consistency! During the first innings at the Adelaide Oval, Yasir was guilty of bowling very short and was rightfully dealt with disdain by the Australian batsman.

While Smith could manage just 36 runs before he nicked off to Shaheen Afridi, David Warner (335*) and Marnus Labuschagne (162) put Yasir to the sword for the better part of five sessions. Shah also created an unwanted record of being the joint-fastest to concede 1000 Test runs in a single country, a feat previously held by the highest wicket-taker in five-day cricket- Muttiah Muralitharan, who conceded the same in India, albeit at a slightly better average (45.5) than the Pakistan spinner.

Australia eventually ended Yasir and the rest of the Pakistan bowlers after Tim Paine declared the innings at 3-589 with David Warner finishing at 335 not-out. In reply, Pakistan batsman barring Babar Azam (43*) didn’t have any answers to the troika of the Australian quicks and finished the day at 6-96, still trailing by another 493 runs.