Yasir Shah will be the ‘trump card’ for Pakistan feels Wahab Riaz

The Pakistani team is in Australia playing the warm-up match against Cricket Australia XI ahead of the series opener at the Gabba that starts on December 15. They have had a set-back with leg-spinner Yasir Shah hurting his back and missing out on playing this game. The team depends a lot on Shah to get them the wickets, one of the major reasons for his success and acclamation is his ability to pick wickets on surfaces that don’t really turn.

He will certainly be expected to do well for Pakistan in the upcoming season provided he is fit and makes a cut for the game in time. Pakistan pacer Wahab Riaz believes that Yasir will be the `trump card` for the team 3- Test series. “I haven’t got any feedback on [Shah] yet, but obviously he’s recovering well. He’s going to be our trump card and we want him to play the first Test match,” Riaz was quoted by cricket.com.au as saying.

But he also maintained that even if Yasir doesn’t make the cut they have enough fire in the pace-bowling attack to make life difficult for the Aussies. Mohammad Amir kick started the tour with a fiery performance against CA XI as he removed three of their top order batsmen and swung the pink ball to great effect. With the likes of Wahab, Sohail Khan, Imran Khan and Rahat Ali in the squad Pakistan certainly have nothing to worry about.

“All the fast bowlers in this squad, they have their own speciality. Amir bowls that inswinger really well, Rahat moves it both ways, I come with the pace, Sohail Khan has a tendency to have a good outswinger, with Imran Khan as well, so everybody is really good and working hard and it depends who gets a chance to play,” Riaz said.

“Obviously everyone wants to perform and it’s a good bunch of fast bowlers. We are confident in each other – it’s not about who’s playing and who’s not,” he added.

To play it safe Pakistan flew left-arm spinner Mohammad Asghar to Australia and has joined the squad as a backup for Shah.