Tour of Australia offers opportunity to youngsters to prove their mettle.

KARACHI -- National selectors have made big and bold changes in the T20I and Tests squad for the tour of Australia, which reflects their positive intent for the challenging tour as well as looking to the future. Nineteen-year-old fast bowler Musa Khan has been included in both squads, while 16-year-old pace sensation, Naseem Shah has found a spot in the squad for the two-match Test series. Musa and Naseem, like Mohammad Hasnain and Shaheen ShahAfridi, are the products of the National Cricket Academy, where they were trained, finetuned and prepared for international assignments.

The emergence of these boys has only strengthened the NCA's reputation as a finishing school for future stars. Besides the two pacers, leg-spinner Usman Qadir and left-handed batsman Khushdil Shah have been included in the T20I squads. Musa, who has sealed berths in both Test and T20I squads made a big breakthrough in last year's ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup where he took three wickets in two matches and impressed every one with his pace and control. In seven first-class games to date, Musa has taken 17 wickets. In the ongoing 2019-20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, the right-armer has collected five wickets in four matches, in his eight T20 matches so far, Musa has collected 12 wickets including a fourwicket haul in the ongoing National T20 tournament, taking place at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.

Musa also represented Islamabad United in the HBLPakistan Super League 2019 edition; he featured in seven games for the two-time champions. Musa Khan said: 'I am really happy with my selection for the Australia tour, I am not thinking about bowling to the likes of David Warner or Steve Smith, rather I want to make an impression with my pace...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT