10 things you need to know about Mohammad Talha

Mohammad Talha during his comeback against Sri Lanka earlier this year

1. Mohammad Talha played a lot of tape ball cricket during his childhood, following in the footsteps of his brother.

2. He supposedly didn’t have much stamina during his teens and picked up the longer format of the game at a later stage.

3. Talha grew up admiring Brett Lee, along with Pakistan’s legendary fast bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. He has modelled his bowling action on the Australian’s.

4. Talha first came into prominence in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in 2008-09, playing alongside another young fast bowling prospect Mohammad Aamer.

5. Having faced many injuries early in his career, Talha worked with Aaqib Javed to change his bowling action in order to become less injury-prone.

6. His breakthrough came when he picked up a magnificent 10-wicket haul against Pakistan Customs in the 2008-09 season.

7. He made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2009 in a match which is remembered for the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore.

8. He had to wait nearly five years to make his 2nd appearance in whites for Pakistan, which again came against Sir Lanka at Sharjah earlier this year.

9. Surprisingly for a fast bowler, Talha has said that he enjoys bowling on dead pitches that don’t assist pace bowlers.

10. He is said to be the fastest bowler in Pakistan at this moment, and has claimed that he will never drop his speed below the 145 kmph mark.