Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali has dismissed the notion that Pakistan always produce the best fast bowlers. Moeen cited the example of current pace trio of Pakistan — Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah — saying that they are good, but not great. Pakistan had a tournament to forget as they crashed in the group stage of the Champions Trophy at home. The likes of Shaheen, Haris and Naseem all failed to impress, raising doubts over their abilities to take wickets. While Shaeen and Haris were retained in the squad for the ongoing white-ball series against New Zealand, Naseem had to bear the brunt of the team’s disappointing Champions Trophy show.
“This is the thing people have. Especially people with Pakistani backgrounds. They’ll say Pakistani seamers are the best. I’m like no, they’re not. They’re good, but they’re not the best. Naseem Shah, Shaheen and Haris Rauf are very good. We’re not saying they are bad, but they’re not the best,” Moeen said on ‘Beard Before Wicket‘ YouTube show.
Moeen, who will play for KKR in the upcoming IPL season, also explained why Pakistan have always produced some good fast bowlers.
“Pakistan have this thing where they do produce very good fast bowlers. Again, it’s something in their coaching system where they coach Pakistanis unbelievably well,” the former CSK all-rounder added.
Meanwhile, Pakistan registered thier biggest loss in terms of remaining balls (59) in the first T20I against New Zealand on Sunday.
After bundling Pakistan out for just 91 runs in 18.4 overs, NZ chased it down in just 10.1 overs with just one wicket lost.
Player of the match Kyle Jamieson also spoke about the game in the post-match presentation. He felt good returning to his home soil and enjoyed the bowling conditions. He praised his teammates and said they have a great depth and players who can use these conditions well. He admired Jacob Duffy, who was his bowling partner in the powerplay, and Zakary Foulkes as well.
“It was nice to be back on home soil, favourable conditions, myself and Duff, we’ll take these conditions and it was nice to cash in. I guess we plan for some carnage (in T20Is), for some balls to go out of the ground, nice to get these conditions, needed to keep the seam upright, it made our job easy and was a clinical team performance. We have got a good crop of players, great depth and players who can exploit the conditions; it was a nice team win. He did an outstanding job (on Jacob Duffy), at the top and the back-end as well, Zak (Foulkes) as well, was just a great all-around performance from the bowlers.” Kyle Jamieson said.
(With ANI Inputs)
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