Mushtaq Ahmed reveals the reason behind Shadab Khan's lost form

Former Pakistan leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed believes Shadab Khan’s poor form in the past few months is due to him being constantly injured and a lack of continuity in his bowling action. The leg-spinner is the team’s white-ball vice-captain and apart from being a good bowler, he is also very handy with the bat and a brilliant fielder. But, due to consistently not being able to play for longer periods of time has hampered the progress of the allrounder in all three formats of the game.

Shadab will soon be seen in action against England in the team’s limited-overs series starting on July 8. He is without a doubt a key member of the squad and would ensure to build pressure in the middle overs by not giving away too many runs.

Ahmed, though, feels that Shadab is one of the smart players in the team and reckons that the leg-spinner will bounce back sooner rather than later.

“Shadab has remained injured a lot during the past six months, which has affected his bowling. The only way he will get his rhythm back is by bowling long spells in four-day cricket. Leg-spin is a difficult art and you can’t be effective if your confidence is down. Shadab is a very smart cricketer and understands the game really well, I’m sure he will come back strong. His attitude towards the game makes him a valuable asset for Pakistan cricket,” Mushtaq told Cricket Pakistan.

“He also needs to make his bowling action more repeatable so that he doesn’t worry about where his ball will land and instead keep his focus on getting wickets,” he added.

Mushtaq Ahmed full of praise for Multan Sultans

Ahmed, who was also the spin bowling coach for Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), heaped praise on the team for clinching the maiden title in the sixth edition. The former leg-spinner felt Mohammad Rizwan’s leadership stood out and he was instrumental in the team turning a corner in the UAE leg.

“The coaches can only be effective when players execute their plans properly and this is exactly what our team did. A big role in making this happen was played by Rizwan who led the side really well,” he said. “Momentum is very key in this form of cricket. We had a good side in the Karachi leg as well but couldn’t win but as soon as we won our first match in Abu Dhabi, our team got the self-belief that we can win this tournament.”