11 Facts about Yasir Shah: The spin bowling future of Pakistan

Yasir Shah is classical. That’s how one can describe Pakistan Cricket teams’ latest spin hope. He has embraced the responsibility with stupendous success in the post-Ajmal period. Known for his traditional approach of spin bowling, Shah prefers to give the classic loop to the ball with a hard rip which makes the ball drift inwards beautifully. He began his career with a bang and grabbed headlines instantly. His capabilities are such that it flattered the ‘Master of the Art’ – Shane Warne himself who labeled him as the “the best leg-spinner in the world” after a training session with him.

1. Born on:

Yasir Shah was born on May 2, 1986, Swabi, North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)

2. Maternal relation to top class cricketers:

He’s the cousin of Pakistan fast bowler Junaid Khan as well as of Australian international cricketer Fawad Ahmed

3. A long wait to earn national cap:

Despite making his first-class debut in 2002, Yasir had to wait for nine years to make his international debut.

4. Domestic arena:

He has played for a number of teams in the Pakistani first-class domestic cricket circuit, including the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cricket team, Abbottabad Rhinos, Pakistan Customs cricket team, and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited

5. International debut:

Made his debut for Pakistan against Zimababwe on 11-September-2011. He took 2 for 51 runs (10 overs). The wickets were of Vusi Sibanda and star wicketkeeper-batsman Tatenda Taibu.

6. Best bowling figures:

In Tests, Yasir’s best bowling figures in an innings came against the Lankans where he scalped seven wickets for just 76 runs. Pakistan won the Test by 10 wickets and Yasir ended up with figures of 9/155. This was the best bowling figures by an overseas player in Sri Lankan soil.

7. Impresses the ‘Sheik of Tweak’:

Australia’s maverick spinner Shane Warne was highly impressed by Yasir Shah’s capabilities and predicted that the leggie will go on to pick more that 200 wickets in future. The Australia great visited Pakistan’s training ground in Sharjah in 2014 and met Shah for a session.

8. The quickest to 50 Test wickets:

In a series against Sri Lanka in 2015, Yasir entered history books as he became the quickest Pakistani bowler to claim 50 Test wickets (from 9 matches).

9. Career so far:

Yasir has so far picked 76 Test wickets from 12 matches and 18 ODI wickets from 15 matches.

10. Unfortunate ban

Shah was banned for 3 months from playing any type of cricket after a sample taken from him on November 13, was found to contain chlorthalidone (a banned substance) which is on WADA’s prohibited list of diuretics and masking agents. ICC banned Yasir for 3 months starting from 27 December 2015 to 27 March 2016

11. The ace in the pack:

Yasir Shah holds the record for most wickets by a leg-spinner in their first 10 Tests.