17-year-old Shaheen Shah bags best figures by a Pakistani on FC debut

17-year-old Shaheen Shah bags best figures by a Pakistani on FC debut

KARACHI: Pakistan’s latest fast bowling sensation Shaheen Shah achieved yet another feat on Wednesday by taking eight wickets in an innings on his First Class debut.

17-year-old Shaheen, hailing from Khyber Agency, made his first-class debut in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy on Tuesday and on Wednesday, announced his arrival by taking eight wickets, giving 39 runs.

This is the best-ever performance by any Pakistani player on his first-class debut, previous best by a Pakistani was 8 for 58 by Nadeem Malik for Lahore against Sargodha in 1974.

Of Shaheen’s eight wickets, three were bowled, two being trapped leg-before-wicket, and one being caught behind which reflects his disciplined bowling at the match.

Shaheen was spotted at an Under-16 talent hunt program last year and was included in Pakistan’s U19 team for U19 Asia Cup.

Videos of his smooth bowling action went viral earlier and he was tipped as Pakistan’s version of Mitchell Starc.

His natural swing is in-swing to right-handers but he can also bowl away from the right-handers. When he was put on the speed gun during PCB U16 camp last year, he was consistently hitting 135+ kmh and occasionally 140+ kmh, and he was just 16 at the time.

The bowler earlier got a two-year BPL contract with Dhaka Dynamites.