As Pakistan crashed out of the Asia Cup after their heartbreaking defeat to Sri Lanka in the Super Four encounter, the bad news got worse with Naseem Shah's injury update. The fiery young fast bowler, who had suffered an injury to his right shoulder during the Super Four game against India, is now likely to miss the entire World Cup and maybe even the rest of the year, according to reports from Dubai.
If it indeed happens, then Shah's absence will be a body blow to Pakistan's hopes of going deep at the World Cup in India. The 20-year-old has been a revelation for Pakistan with the ball in the one-day internationals taking 32 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 16.97 and an economy of 4.69.
His exploits with the ball along with Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf has been at the heart of Pakistan's success in recent times in limited overs matches. With the frenetic pace that he can generate with his run-up, Shah has been an invaluable asset for the Pakistanis when it comes to taking wickets. Shah had troubled the Indian batsmen to no end in their league match of the Asia Cup taking figures of 3/36 and stifled run-making for Team India.
Naseem Shah's ability with the bat will be equally missed:
The express pace he comes up with and the tight lengths at which the ball is made to move in and away makes life a hard one for any batsman. And that is exactly why Shah is a supremely talented bowler. Shah's presence at the World Cup would have provided Pakistan the much needed balance alongside Afridi and Rauf. The young lad's ability with the bat late down the order is another asset that Pakistan has benefited from in recent times.
Shah's performances against Afghanistan with the bat in their bilateral ODIs has been one of the highlights of his career. Winning games out of nowhere for Pakistan has been his forte with the bat.
Therefore, the unavailability of Shah is going to definitely hamper Pakistan's chances a great deal at the quadrennial extravaganza.
