Fast bowler Khurram Shahzad suffered a stress fracture and an abdominal muscle breakdown recently, which means he will miss Pakistan’s next Test series against Australia. Left-handed hitter Saud Shakeel offered his ideas on possible substitutes for the squad while expressing condolences for Shahzad’s untimely injury. He stated,
“He had a major job coming here and bowled pretty well. I’m really sorry for him that he hurt himself, as Cricket Pakistan said.
Saud Shakeel went on, “That’s part of the game,” acknowledging the inherent obstacles of the game. In this Melbourne Test, our other bowlers, Hasan Ali and Mir Hamza, have the ability to take big wickets.”
A more positive batting attitude is crucial, as Shakeel, the elegant batsman who scored 28 and 24 in the first Test despite the difficult conditions, emphasized. He emphasized that in order to score runs and put pressure on the opposition, attacking shots must be executed, and he urged the team to adopt an aggressive strategy.
“We just need to be more positive with our batting approach and just play some attacking shots to get runs and put them under pressure,” Saud Shakeel remarked.
Looking ahead to the Melbourne pitch for the next game, Shakeel was upbeat, saying that the Melbourne pitch should be better for batting than the Perth surface, which is known to be somewhat bouncey.
“The pitch in Perth has the highest bounce. This pitch seems like a good fit for us. I’ve watched matches in Melbourne, and it’s not as difficult to bat on,” he remarked.
Shakeel highlighted the team’s collective responsibility to rise to the occasion and put runs on the board so that bowlers would have something to bowl while appreciating the superior Australian bowling attack and the mental obstacles that come with playing in their home conditions.
“They have good experience and a quality attack when you come to Australia. It’s more of a mental than a physical struggle when you play in your own environment. We have to score runs as a team,” he said in closing.
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