Shadab Khan, an all-rounder for Pakistan, admitted his recent dip in performance but was eager to point out that he has the abilities to recover and this year, the vice-captain of Pakistan has taken 13 wickets in 11 ODIs and scored 138 runs in 8 innings while four of the 13 wickets taken this year came in the Asia Cup game against Nepal.
Shadab Khan, an all-rounder for Pakistan, admitted his recent dip in performance but was eager to point out that he has the abilities to recover. This year, the vice-captain of Pakistan has taken 13 wickets in 11 ODIs and scored 138 runs in 8 innings.
“I do understand that my recent form is not good, but I have the skills,”
Shadab said in a press conference in Hyderabad.
“Just that when you are not performing, you are mentally a bit down, but skill-wise, there is no issue. From the mental aspect, things have changed after I got the rest, and hopefully, we will give a good performance in the upcoming World Cup,”
Four of the 13 wickets taken this year came in the Asia Cup game against Nepal. However, he didn’t play particularly well in the competition.
“From a cricketing point of view, the Asia Cup didn’t go well, but that’s the beauty of cricket: you learn from your mistakes, and there is always an opportunity to learn and play good cricket,”
Shadab said.
“After we lost the Asia Cup, we got a good rest, and I believe it’s no more a skill game but a mental game, and it’s the World Cup. You can make good decisions when you are relaxed mentally,”
he added.
Shadab, who is confident in his own comeback, also supported Fakhar Zaman, who has also been having trouble scoring runs and was not given the opportunity to bat in the first warm-up game against New Zealand on October 29 in Hyderabad.
“He is a big player for us, an impactful player, and whenever he performs, the team wins. His three centuries this year have come in winning causes and every team wants this kind of players to play for their side. We have no doubt about his ability, and we back him as he is a world-class player,”
Shadab said.
The first two games of the ODI World Cup for Pakistan are played in Hyderabad, and the next seven league stage games are played at four different locations: Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, and Ahmedabad.
According to Shadab, the key for his team—and possibly most of the other title contenders—will be to quickly adjust to various conditions across the country while also keeping a keen eye on fitness levels. One of the Pakistan star pacer Naseem Shah has been ruled out of the World Cup squad due to a shoulder injury.
“Conditions will change as we will be playing in different venues, and we have to adapt to conditions very quickly, fitness-wise as it’s a long tournament and the Asia Cup saw some fast bowlers getting injured. So fitness will be a concern for all teams but hopefully not for us as we lost one of the key players and we don’t want any other fitness issues,”
Shadab said.
Two days after New Zealand easily chased down Pakistan’s 345/5 in just the 44th over in the warm-up game, Shadab believed the winning of the championship match will depend on whatever team bowled the best.
“This is my feeling: the team that bowls well will win the World Cup. Given the conditions, it will be difficult to contain the batters and pick wickets, given the nature of flat tracks and small boundaries. So I feel the team that bowls well will win the tournament, and we have world-class bowlers, and as a bowling unit, if we perform well we will become champions,”
he said.
The high-octane clash of the tournament will be played between Pakistan and India on October 14 in Ahmedabad while the fans are eagerly waiting for the clash.
On October 6, Pakistan will play the Netherlands in their World Cup opener in Hyderabad while host India will start their campaign against five-time champions Australia at Chepauk on October 8.
Pakistan squad for World Cup: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Wasim.India squad for World Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishan Kishan, Surya Kumar Yadav.