Shadab Khan Responds Humbly When Drawn Comparisons With Steve Smith

Ever since Steve Smith’s turnaround of his career that made him one of the best batsmen, the same expectations follow with emerging leg-spinning all-rounders. The New South Wales batsman began his career in 2010 as a wrist-spinner, potentially as a replacement of Shane Warne. Fast forward to the present; comparisons have been drawn to Sir Donald Bradman due to his hunger for scoring runs. Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan has emphasized that he is nowhere close to the Australian currently.

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The debate came up due to Shadab Khan’s present form in the Pakistan Super League. Shadab’s speciality is being a wrist-spinner, who holds the capability to add some runs down the order. As for in the 2020 edition, the 21-year old’s form with the bat has been red-hot. At the moment, he is amongst the top run-getters in the competition, having scored 263 runs in nine games while maintaining a strike rate of 159.39.

It is almost fascinating to think that Steve Smith sparked a tremendous turnaround in his career. The 30-year old has over 7000 runs in Tests so far with 26 hundreds at 62.80. In 2019, he amassed 965 runs in eight Tests, having returned from a year-long ban due to his role in the Cape Town ball-tampering saga. At the start of his career, he used to bat as low as number eight and now he bats at fourth position.

Shadab Khan responds to the comparison:

And because of his exploits, the Shadab Khan is receiving applause and being compared to the current number one Test batsman. Nevertheless, he remained humble when made the analogy and claimed that Smith is a legend and that it is too early to make that big a comparison. The 21-year old also conceded that he would stay as a bowling all-rounder despite anything and that the wickets couldn’t come easily since the decks aren’t conducive to spin-bowling.

“I don’t think I can be compared to him (Smith), who is a legend, I am nowhere near him. It is too early to compare me with anyone. I am still a bowling all-rounder and I will remain one. I couldn’t take many wickets here because the conditions were not supportive for spinners.” Shadab said as quoted by India Today.

With 263 runs, the youngster is ahead of stalwarts like Colin Munro, Fakhar Zaman, and Shoiab Malik. Even with the ball, he features in the top ten list, having picked up eight scalps in nine games.

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