Shadab Khan lauds Pakistan's clinical performance in the shortest format

It would be fair to say that Pakistan’s Shadab Khan is an underrated leg-spinner, especially with the likes of Rashid Khan and Yuzvendra Chahal headlining more often than not. Of late, the shortest format of the game has had an unprecedented domination by leg-spinners, with the top 5 T20I bowlers in the ICC rankings all being leggies at the moment. It should come as no surprise that Shadab is second on that list, only behind Afghanistan’s Rashid.

But he’s been better than the Afghan as far as wickets are concerned – Shadab became the highest wicket-taker in T20Is in a calendar year. What would make that achievement sweeter for him is that he’s done it in the course of two fabulous T20I series performances against two very solid oppositions. Pakistan first completed a rare 3-0 whitewash over the once mighty Australians in the UAE.

Aaron Finch’s side was humiliated, to say the least, and the Aussies went home empty-handed after losing both the Test series as well as the T20Is. Next up were their neighbours New Zealand, who initially put up a much better fight than the Australians. Although it looked like a competitive series, even the Kiwis couldn’t overhaul Sarfraz Ahmed’s boys. Pakistan completed a second consecutive whitewash and registered a remarkable 11th straight series win.

Babar fastest to 1000 T20I runs

Meanwhile, Babar Azam went past the invincible Virat Kohli as he became the fastest batsman to reach 1000 T20I runs. Babar has often drawn parallels with the Indian superstar, and he’s shown just why these comparisons aren’t just sneaking suspicions. His numbers are surprisingly better than Virat in the shortest format as far these first 1000 runs are concerned. While he’s still far away from the great man in other formats of the game, Babar has just gone on to show that he possesses talent in heaps, and now the onus is on Pakistan to bring it to the forefront.

The Green Shirts have been simply unstoppable at their adopted home, and while Sarfraz Ahmed was initially taking a lot of flak for his poor captaincy, he has now shut his critics after registering two emphatic series victories. Shadab Khan took to Twitter to share his happiness, both for his personal milestone as well as the team’s overall performance. He wrote, “NUMBER 1 in the world. 11th series victory in a row. @babarazam258 became the fastest to 1000 runs. A personal milestone for me; most wickets in a calendar year. Blessed to be a part of this Pakistan team, my boys my brothers. #PakistanZindabad.”

Here is Shadab’s tweet

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