Naseem Shah openly blames PCB for inconsistency in selection, says Pakistan pacers are always insecure

Naseem Shah has explained why Pakistan fast bowlers are scared to ask for rest from the team management. In recent times, several Pakistan fast bowlers have suffered injuries and were sidelined for months.

Most of Pakistan’s bowlers play in all three formats and often suffer serious injuries. In 2022, Shaheen Afridi suffered a serious knee injury and was sidelined for three months. He returned to action in the 2022 T20 World Cup and aggravated the same injury before missing the entire home series against England and New Zealand.

Naseem Shah himself suffered a shoulder injury while bowling against India in the Asia Cup in September last year and has not played for Pakistan since then. After being sidelined for months, he finally returned to action last month in the ongoing PSL 2024.

With Pakistan’s key bowlers suffering serious injuries now and then, there have been calls from several quarters to manage their workload. However, Naseem Shah believes it is not easy in Pakistan since the bowlers fear for their place in the team.

“Unfortunately, it is a bit different in Pakistan. Whenever a player comes from outside, is not a part of the playing eleven, and performs well in a match, even our main bowlers get worried thinking whether they will be able to play to the next game or now,” Naseem Shah told CricWick.

“There’s a fear and because of that, the bowlers don’t rest. When you rest, sometimes you end up resting in peace,” he added before explaining that the importance of workload management for fast bowlers.

Naseem Shah says that in Pakistan culture, bowlers fear losing their spot if they opt for rest#PakistanCricket pic.twitter.com/0d8YPrPqps

— CricWick (@CricWick) March 4, 2024

Naseem Shah in PSL 2024:

Naseem Shah began a new journey in PSL this year. The right-arm pacer made his debut for Quetta Gladiators in 2020 and plied his trade for them for four years before deciding to part ways. The fast-bowler failed to reach the playoffs even once with the Gladiators and decided to leave them for Islamabad United ahead of PSL 2024.

In the ongoing season, he has played in six of the seven games played by Islamabad so far. In those six games, he has picked up 8 wickets at an average of 23 and an economy rate of less than eight. As far as Islamabad is concerned, they are third in the points table with three wins from seven games. Incidentally, the Gladiators are ahead of Islamabad with four wins in six games.

Islamabad began their campaign with a win over reigning champions Lahore Qalandars before losing three games in a row. They got back to winning ways by beating Karachi Kings. On Monday (March 4), they beat Peshawar Zalmi by 29 runs to remain in contention for the playoffs.