Naseem Shah pulls out of The Hundred following his Pakistan call-up

Naseem Shah, the 19-year-old speedster from Pakistan, was set to be the face of Welsh Fire’s bowling line-up in The Hundred 2022. However, a call-up in Pakistan’s ODI set-up will derail his plans for the summer. He will now travel to Netherlands for an ODI series and then to UAE for Asia Cup.

Despite being successful in Test cricket, Naseem is yet to make his debut for Pakistan in white-ball cricket. He is very likely to earn his maiden ODI cap against Netherlands this summer. Captain Babar Azam might give him a chance to perform before the all-important Asia Cup.

Naseem replaced Hasan Ali in the squad after the latter failed to impress the management in recent times.  Thus, the youngster is expected to have a lot of responsibilities on his shoulder when he dons the shirt.

Along with him, all-rounder Salman Agha has been picked up for the upcoming series. Their leader of the bowling line-up, Shaheen Shah Afridi has also been called up but is likely to be rested for the first couple of games. He is currently injured and his return to International cricket is subject to his medical report.

Naseem Shah’s career so far

Meanwhile, Naseem made his debut for Pakistan in 2019 and has featured in 13 Test matches so far. With an average of 36.30, he has picked up 33 wickets so far. He was reasonably successful in domestic cricket as well and with time, he can very well be a lethal weapon for Pakistan.

Just before the Hundred, Naseem was playing county cricket for Gloucestershire. He suffered an injury against Northamptonshire and was ruled out of the championship. He went back to Pakistan following his injury and returned back to play the Hundred. 

However, he will miss the tournament and didn’t feature in the first match of Welsh Fire as well. Without a premium fast bowler in their ranks, the team was crushed to a nine-wicket loss against the defending champions Southern Brave. 

Pakistan Squad for Netherlands ODIs: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vc), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Imam ul haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Salman Agha, Shaheen Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zahid Mehmood

Pakistan Squad for Asia Cup: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vc), Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir