Naseem Shah in a very short span has established himself as one of the prime bowlers for Pakistan. The raw pace of the youngster has helped his cause. The start to his international career was also impressive as he became the youngest bowler to take a Test hat-trick on this day in 2020.
Visitors under pressure
Pakistan and Bangladesh played a Test series in 2020 which started with a match at Rawalpindi. Azhar Ali won the toss for the home side and elected to invite Bangladesh to bat first. Pakistan took the early advantage by getting a couple of breakthroughs in the first two overs. Shanto and Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque built a small but crucial partnership to calm the nerves. After this partnership was broken the fall of wickets started again. Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals and ended up with 233 runs in the first innings.
In reply, Pakistan batted phenomenally to post 445 runs on the board and take a massive lead. Babar Azam and Shan Masood shone for Pakistan as both scored dominating centuries. Babar was the pick of the batters for the home side with 143 runs to his name.
Shah steals the show
Pakistan registered a huge lead at the end of the first innings which put the Bangladesh batting order under immense pressure. However, the visitors got off to a good start in the second innings and at one point they were going smoothly with 124 runs on the board at the loss of only two wickets. But then Naseem Shah made a roaring entry into the scene and his introduction blew Bangladesh out of the contest. He dismissed Najmul Hossain, Taijul Islam, and Mahmudullah on consecutive deliveries to break the spine of the Bangladesh batting unit. This onslaught resulted in a collapse and eventually Pakistan won the match by an innings and 44 runs. Naseem Shah was awarded the player of the match for his fierce bowling spell.