Pakistani spinner Yasir Shah is desperate to play a Test match against India and has said that he would love to face off against India’s R Ashwin.
Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin had earlier congratulated the Pakistani leg-spinner on Twitter, after he became joint second fastest bowler to reach 100 wickets in Test matches, during the first match of their series against the West Indies in Dubai.
Later on, the leggy expressed his wish his wish to face-off Ashwin in a Test match and more importantly, play against the Indian Cricket team, which is still an unfulfilled dream for him.
Also read: Yasir Shah becomes fastest Asian bowler to reach 100 Test wickets
As quoted from Firstpost, Yasir Shah recently said, "Every Pakistani and Indian player has this wish to play against each other. I have not played a Test against India so it's my wish."
In reply to Ashwin’s tweet, Shah was very thankful to the Indian and said that he was motivated to hear good luck messages from a player of Ashwin’s calibre. He said, "Yes, he had said good luck, so I am thankful. It's naturally motivating when a great bowler who is second fastest to 200 wickets tweets a good luck message and it's really a great motivation for me."
Also read: R Ashwin can reach close to 300 Test wickets by the end of the season, says his mentor
Shah took 76 wickets in his first 12 matches and followed it up with 10 wickets at Lord’s earlier this year, but could not reach the three-figure mark in the next three Tests.
The other three players who share honours with the Pakistani in the second spot are Australia’s Charlie Turner and Clarrie Grimmett and Englishman Sydney Barnes. Shah is the fastest Pakistani to reach 100 wickets, overtaking off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, who took 19 matches to take as many wickets.
England’s George Lohmann is the fastest to 100 wickets, achieving the feat in just 16 Tests.
The last bilateral series played between India and Pakistan was back in 2007, with the BCCI cutting all ties after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, for which New Delhi blamed militants originating across the border from Pakistan.
Since then, the two nations have only met in ICC tournaments like World Cups and World T20s.
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