Renowned cricket journalist Bharat Sundaresan posted a video on twitter, from the net session of the Pakistan team, ahead of the Karachi Test. In the clip, young Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi can be seen bowling left-arm spin.
Bharat pointed out the resemblance of Shaheen’s spin bowling action with that of Ravindra Jadeja. Even the run-up of Shaheen looked exactly same as the Indian all-rounder.
Watch the video:
There’s a lot of Ravindra Jadeja, just a few inches taller, about Shaheen Shah Afridi bowling left-arm spin, the bounce in the hair included #PakvAus pic.twitter.com/6YCI99E9VV
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) March 10, 2022
The first Test match between Pakistan and Australia at Rawalpindi ended in a draw. The pitch received a lot of criticism from the cricket experts for being slow and lifeless. After the match, ICC rated the surface as ‘below average’ and handed one demerit point to the venue. It should be noted that, if a venue gets five demerit points over a timespan of 5 years, then international cricket is banned in that stadium for 12 months.
“The pitch did not have a great deal of pace and bounce in it for the seamers nor assisted the spinners as the match progressed. In my view this does not represent an even contest between bat and ball. Therefore, in keeping with the ICC guidelines I rate this pitch as below average.”, Match referee Ranjan Madugalle stated in his report.
The second Test match of the series will start in Karachi from Saturday (12 March)
Ravindra Jadeja becomes no.1 Test All-rounder
Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja has now become the No.1 Test All-rounder in the latest ICC rankings. He has overtaken Jason Holder to claim the no.1 spot.
In the first Test against Sri Lanka at Mohali, Jadeja had a dream performance both with bat and ball. He scored 175 not out runs in the first innings of the Mohali Test and followed it up with match figures of 9/87 with the ball.