‘I told my mother to watch my debut tomorrow, next day she passed away’ - Naseem Shah narrates story of the ‘toughest day’ of his life

Pakistan speedster Naseem Shah missed the Multan Test against England on account of injury concerns and his absence proved to be a major hole in the side. The 19-year-old made his debut three years back in 2019 and he has grown into an all-format player rapidly. He proved to be one of the players of the tournaments for Pakistan in the recent T20 World Cup 2022 campaign.  

Notably, Shah had endured a tough debut when he lost his mother on the same day at just 16 years of age. He fought his way through the difficult times and recently narrated the impact it created.  

“I was too attached with my mom. When I was 12, I left home because of cricket. I shifted to Lahore. When my debut came, she called me a day before and I told her, 'tomorrow is my debut'. She didn't use to watch TV, she didn't understand cricket. But I told her, 'you must watch the game tomorrow because I'm playing, I'll be live on TV.” 

“She was so happy, she said she would come to Lahore to watch the game. When I woke up, the management came to me and said, 'you mom has passed away',” Naseem recalled during an interview with Nasser Hussain for Sky Sports Cricket. 

No one thinks about what's going inside you: Naseem Shah 

Naseem Shah highlighted the struggles he went through after the loss of his mother and revealed his attachment with her. He further confessed about the injury concerns he had during the early stages of his career and added how it developed his mental strength while playing for Pakistan. 

“For the next six-to-eight months, I struggled so much. No one thinks about what's going inside you. I used to have a lot of medicines, I saw my mom everywhere. I used to think about her a lot. Whenever you play for Pakistan, everyone expects performances from you. I had a lot of injuries during that time as well, so it was a tough time. I learned from it, though. I'm stronger now. My (Pakistan) debut was the toughest day of my life. I can manage when I'm not performing well now, because I know how tough it was,” Naseem added.