I think Yasir Shah is a fantastic, wonderful bowler - Shane Warne

I think Yasir Shah is a fantastic, wonderful bowler – Shane Warne: Pakistan comprehensively won the 2^nd Test against England at Abu Dhabi after both the teams had settled for a draw in the 1^st match. Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and chose to bat. Riding on the back of a wonderful century (102 from 197balls) by the skipper, useful half-century by Shan Masood (54) and Younis Khan (56) and also on the good knock from the bat of Asad Shafiq (83 from 178balls), Pakistan posted a total of 378 runs in their first innings.

Moeen Ali (25-3-108-3) and Mark Wood (19.5-7-39-3) did the maximum damage while James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid picked up a wicket each.

England replied with 242 runs in their first innings, trailing by 136 runs. Skipper Alastair Cook (65), Joe Root (88) and Jonny Bairstow (46) were the main contributors. Among others, only Stuart Broad (15) could register a double digit score.

Yasir Shah (29-4-93-4) and Wahab Riaz (19-5-66-4) stemmed the rot and kept the English batsmen under check. Imran Khan took the remaining 2 wickets in his spell of 13.2 overs.

Following an excellent century (118) by Younis Khan, where he played 354 balls; skipper Misbah-ul-Haq notched up 87 runs in 177 minutes of stay at the crease, facing 147 deliveries with 8 fours and 4 sixes, Mohd Hafeez recording an useful half-century (51) and Asad  Shafiq scoring 79 runs off 112 deliveries with 8 fours, spending 133 minutes in the middle, Pakistan declared their second innings at 354 runs for the loss of 6 wickets.

England had to chase a target of 491 runs in the remaining 54 overs on Day 4 and three full sessions on Day 5.

Yasir Shah got into the act once again. Returning with an impressive bowling figure of 41.3-15-87-4, ably assisted by Zulfiqar Babar (4-23-53-3) and Imran Khan 14-4-41-2), made sure that England were restricted to 312 runs in their second innings.

Joe Root (71 batted for 171 balls), Adil Rashid (61, 239minutes, 172balls) and Ian Bell (46) were the main contributors.

Pakistan won by 178 runs.

The 29-year old leggie, Yasir Shah ended the match with a highly impressive bowling figure of 70.3-19-180-8.

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

Yasir first made his ODI debut in the third game against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club, Harare, on 14th September, 2011. In his very first game, he took the wickets of the Zimbabwean opener, Vusi Sibanda in the 26th over. Later on, he claimed the wicket of the Zimbabwe skipper, Tatenda Taibu in the 38th over. He gave away 51 runs in his spell of 10 overs.

Since then he has featured in 12 matches (11 innings) and has picked up 16 wickets at an average of 30.68 and an economy of 5.06. His best bowling performance has been 6/26 which he took in the first game of the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe.

He had match figures of 9-0-26-6. Pakistan won that game by 131 runs. He also has one ‘four-wicket’ haul and one ‘five-wicket’ haul to his credit.

Yasir made his World Cup debut in the game against arch rival India on 15th February, 2015, at Adelaide Oval. Unfortunately, he could not pick any wicket from his spell of 8 overs, giving away 60 runs.

Shah made his Test debut on 22nd October, 2014, in the first Test against Australia at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai.

He picked up the wickets of David Warner (133), Steven Smith (22) and Steve O’Keefe (6), giving away 66 runs in his spell of 16.3 overs in the first innings.

Yasir followed it up with another great bowling performance in the second innings by picking up the wickets of Michael Clarke (3), Nathan Lyon (0), Steven Smith (55) and Mitchell Johnson (61) in his spell of 25 overs, spending 50 runs. He had impressive match figures of 41.3-7-116-7 on debut.

Since then he has played in 11 Tests (21 innings) and has picked up 69 wickets at an average of 24.55 and with an economy of 3.02. His best bowling performance has been 7/76 in an innings and 9/155 in a match.

Yasir has 4 ‘five-wicket’ hauls to his credit. Of these, three (7/76, 6/96 and 5/78) are against Sri Lanka in 2015 and one (5/79) against New Zealand in 2014.

Yasir Shah is the fastest Pakistani bowler to take 50 wickets in Tests. This he achieved in mere 9 Tests. This betters the record of Waqar Younis, Mohammad Asif and Shabbir Ahmed who all achieved the feat in 10 Tests.

He has been awarded the ‘Player of the Match’ once in ODI for his performance of 9-0-26-6 against Zimbabwe on 1st October, 2015.

Shah has also been awarded the ‘Player of the Series’ in the Test series against Sri Lanka in 2015 for his bowling figure of 176.3-28-464-24 including three consecutive ‘five-wicket’ hauls, scoring 56 runs and taking 1 catch in the entire series of three Test matches.

The just concluded Dubai Test was a memorable one for the leg-spinner. He has achieved the No 2 ICC Ranking for Test Bowlers for the first time in his career.

Yasir counts the legendary Shane Warne as a hero. In turn Warne also has expressed his desire to work with the youngster at the nets during his visit to Dubai.

Warne has, in fact, seen him in action during India-Pak encounter in the World Cup 2015 at Adelaide.

Speaking to the reporters, the former Australian leggie said, “I would love to have another session with him. If I can find some time this week I’d love to go down and have a bowl with him. I’m looking to get as much practice as I can.”

“I think he’s a fantastic, wonderful bowler. Sometimes, from what I’ve seen, he looks a bit impatient – he has all the toys, he just needs to slow down a little bit, take a breath. Just chill out and set a batsman up a little bit more rather than just ripping legbreaks, wrong ones, straight ones, going around the wicket, over the wicket. He just needs to toil away a little more.”

Working with Warne, would give him lot of confidence and the world might get to watch a real world-class leg-spinner, sooner than later.