Yasir Shah, the new spin sensation of Pakistan made a stunning comeback in Tests claiming 10 wickets in a match that saw Pakistan win at Lord’s after 20 years. The match marked the comeback of two promising prospects of Pakistan.
Mohammed Aamir, who was booed by the Lord’s crowd was involved in spot-fixing when he deliberately bowled 2 no balls in this iconic ground 6 years earlier.
Shah, on the other hand, had been banned for drug related issues.
The talking point in the match came in the 2nd innings of England’s batting. Garry Ballance was facing Shah and the ball pitched way outside the off stump. Ballance shuffled across to whip it towards the leg side but to his utter disbelief the ball turned a country mile and hit the leg stumps.
The ball was a mirror image of a delivery that Shane Warne had bowled to Andrew Strauss in the infamous Ashes series in 2005. Shane Warne has heaped praises on the 30-year-old saying he has the best leg break in the world.
Also Read: England vs Pakistan: The Lord's victory in many ways is a poem of Pakistan’s redemption
With his match-winning performance at Lord’s especially on a ground not known to assist spinners he is perhaps the next big thing for Pakistan
Now here we bring you 5 interesting facts about the talented leggie,
#1- Waited 9 years for his international debut
Yasir Shah made his first-class debut in the year 2002, and it took him nearly a decade to get an international call-up. He played for teams like Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, Abbottabad Falcons, Pakistan Customs and Pakistan A before getting the national call up.
Courtesy his quality performance for Pakistan A, he was drafted into the national squad. The start was far from impressive as he lost his place after playing just one T20 and one ODI and he looked destined to join a club of countless Pakistan cricketers who were selected in the wrong format and disappear into the abyss, never to be heard again.
However after the spot-fixing debacle in 2010, the PCB was left with no other options but to select Misbah-ul-Haq as their captain and Yasir Shah got his breakthrough in the Test team by default.
#2- Maternal relation to other cricketers
Yasir Shah is the cousin of Junaid Khan, his Pakistan compatriot as well as of Australian international cricketer Fawad Ahmed.
Junaid Khan is a Pakistani left-arm pacer who has represented Pakistan in 16 Tests and 46 ODIs. He was a regular member of the Pakistan team till 2014.
Fawad Ahmed is a right arm leg break bowler from Australia. Fawad had left Pakistan in 2010 and emigrated to Australia on a short-stay visa sponsored by the Yoogali Cricket Association. He has appeared in 3 ODIs and 2 T20I for Australia.
#3- The quickest Pakistani to take 50 Test wickets
During Pakistan’s tour of Srilanka in 2015, he became the fastest in Pakistan Test cricket history to register 50 Test wickets. He took 9 matches to reach the feat. However, the overall record is held by Charles Turner of Australia who took a mere 6 matches to pick up 50 wickets.
He also took 24 wickets in the Test series and bamboozled literally each and every Srilankan batsman. He was an unknown commodity to the whole Srilankan side and he perplexed them with his leg breaks, googlies and flippers.
Just like Harbhajan Singh is remembered for his extraordinary bowling against the Aussies in 2001, Shah also will be remembered for his extraordinary bowling in the series.
#4-Unfortunate ban
Yasir Shah was banned for 3 months from playing any type of cricket after testing positive for a banned substance. On November 13 the sample taken from him contained Chlortalidone (a banned substance), which is on WADA’s prohibited list of diuretics and masking agent. He was banned from December 27, 2015 to March 27, 2016.
Shah returned to Test cricket with a brilliant performance against England at the Mecca of cricket, picking up 10 wickets in a match that Pakistan won by 75 runs.
#5- First leg-spinner in 11 years to be ranked No.1
Courtesy his brilliant match-winning performance in the Lord’s Test, the Pakistan leggie has displaced James Anderson from the No.1 spot in the latest ICC rankings.
Also Read: Why the England Test series is the biggest one of Yasir Shah's career
Yasir has picked up 86 Test wickets from 13 Test matches and is in the line to break a 120-year-old record held by Australian George Lohmann for the fastest to reach 100 Test wickets. The Aussie took 16 matches to reach the feat.
The Pakistani also became the 1st leg-spinner in 11 years to be ranked No.1. Shane Warne was the last leg spinner to be ranked No.1 in the year 2005. He is also the first Pakistani bowler after Mushtaq Ahmed to climb to the top of the ladder.
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