Pakistan pacer Naseem tests positive for covid, Moeen hails debutant Jamal

Pakistan is due to leave for New Zealand next Monday to participate in a triangular Twenty20 series also featuring Bangladesh. The PCB didn’t clarify whether the fast bowler will accompany the team to NZ

Pakistan fast bowler Naseem Shah has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss the remaining two Twenty20s against England, the Pakistan Cricket Board said on Thursday.

Shah was discharged from hospital on Thursday ater being diagnosed with pneumonia and the PCB said the fast bowler was feeling “much beter.”

“Shah is back in the team hotel where he will follow all COVID-19 protocols,” the PCB said in a statement.

Pakistan is due to leave for New Zealand next Monday to participate in a triangular Twenty20 series also featuring Bangladesh.

The PCB didn’t clarify whether the fast bowler will accompany the team to New Zealand.

Shah played only one game in the sevenmatch series against England at Karachi before being rested. He returned expensive figures of 0-41 off his four overs in the first match, which England won by six wickets.

He was admited to hospital late Tuesday night in Lahore with a chest infection and fever.

Pakistan leads the series 3-2 with back-toback narrow wins at Karachi and Lahore in the last two games as England couldn’t chase down below-par totals.

The remaining two matches will be played on Friday and Sunday at Lahore.

MOEEN PRAISES JAMAL: Pakistan right-arm pacer Aamer Jamal’s performance has come in for special praise from not just his side but the rival team skipper Moeen Ali ater the debutant produced a brilliant final over to help his side clinch a six-run victory in the fith T20 match.

Jamal, 26, displayed experience way beyond his years ater he was entrusted to bowl the final over of the match by skipper Babar Azam. In his maiden international appearance, the 26-year-old held his nerve to defend 15 runs against Moeen.

The bowler was extremely accurate with his yorkers as Moeen managed just eight runs from the final over as Pakistan won the match.

Pakistan’s score of 145 was the lowest total ever defended by any side in a T20I game in the country and Jamal’s performance at the death was a key reason behind the win.

Moeen complimented the bowler who had figures of 1/13 from two overs he bowled.

“It was a very good last over and you can’t take anything away from him,” Moeen said ater the match. “I was just hoping he missed the wide yorker... like the one I got hold of (and hit for six on the third delivery of the final over).

“With the wet ball and the ball probably being out of shape and him on his debut and nervous... he bowled really well and sometimes you have just got to give it to him,” added Moeen, who is standing in as skipper as Jos Butler is recovering from an injury.

Meanwhile, according to former India cricketer Rohan Gavaskar, calling Pakistan skipper Babar Azam a one-dimensional player is a litle harsh and feels that with the majority of bating responsibility on his shoulders especially in the first innings, it can at times limit a player from doing well.

Ater managing to score just 68 runs in six outings at the 2022 Asia Cup, Azam is enduring an up-and-down time in the ongoing seven-match T20I series against England at home, as seen from his scores of 31, 110 not out, 8, 36 and 9 in five matches played till now.

“To call him a one-dimensional player is a litle harsh because he is a quality-quality player. And if anything, the numbers suggest that he is not one-dimensional. The fact that he can change gears and you look at his numbers from the first innings to the second innings. In the first innings, his strike rate is about 125, second innings his strike rate is about 137 which shows that he has the ability to change gears,” said Gavaskar on ‘Sports Over The Top’ show on Sports18.