Former Pakistan cricketer names 2 Indian players who will pose difficulty to Pak players

Former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed has said that the Men in Green will face a lot of difficulty against India pacers at the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 despite the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. Javed, while speaking to PakTV, stated that Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are very good seam bowlers and could give a hard time to Pakistan batters in the marquee ICC event in Australia. Javed claimed that both Shami and Bhuvneshwar are very good bowlers when it comes to bowling in seaming conditions. 

Pakistan will face difficulty against Shami and Bhuvneshwar

"Shami and Bhuvneshwar are very good seam bowlers. Pakistan's team will face difficulty because it will be tough to score runs against them... Shami is a very good seam bowler when he gets assistance from the pitch and Bhuvneshwar is one of the best in seaming conditions," Javed was quoted as saying on PakTV.

Shami picked as Bumrah's replacement

Earlier this month, a 14-member strong squad, led by captain Rohit Sharma traveled to Australia for the T20 World Cup without Jasprit Bumrah, who has been ruled out due to an injury. While Mohammed Siraj and Deepak Chahar were seen as the front-runners to replace Bumrah, BCCI announced Shami’s inclusion a day before ICC’s deadline to name replacements. Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur have been named as backups. 

Shami, who played his first competitive match since recovering from COVID-19 earlier this month, impressed one and all with his amazing bowling skills as he picked three wickets against Australia in India's first warm-up match on Monday. However, both Shami and Bhuvneshwar are not equipped to bowl as well as Bumrah in the death overs, which could cost India the World Cup. Bhuvneshwar, who was part of the Indian squad for the 2022 Asia Cup, proved to be very expensive with the ball in the slog overs, which even cost India a couple of important games.  

India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami. Backup players: Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur. 

Image: BCCI