Babar Azam reveals 'outstanding' Naseem Shah's recipe for success

Pakistan’s prolific batsman Babar Azam, in a press conference at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi on Sunday, praised the outstanding spell bowled by the teenage pace sensation Naseem Shah on day three of the first Test match against Bangladesh.

Naseem, aged 16 years and 359 days, became the youngest player to record a Test hat trick, besting Bangladeshi Alok Kapali who achieved the feat aged 19 in 2003.

Naseem trapped batsman Najumul Hossain Shanto leg before off the fourth ball of his seventh over for 38, then followed up with dismissals of batsmen Taijul Islam (lbw) and Mahmudullah (caught) with the next two deliveries.

The 25-year-old revealed that Naseem’s eagerness to learn along with his ability to stick to the plans led to his success.

“He was outstanding, the way he bowled his second spell. He has given such a brilliant performance at such a young age. I personally enjoy his bowling a lot. The good thing is that he bowls to the plan he is given. It gives us great happiness that these young players are ready to learn so much,” Babar said.

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Babar claimed that the team’s morale was boosted because of the home crowd that was vocal in its support for the Men in Green.

“I was not double minded. That is my shot and I tried it. Sometimes you hit and sometimes you miss. There isn’t pressure as such. We are playing in our home grounds in front of our home crowds. This gives us great confidence,” he said.

The prolific batsman revealed that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of Pakistan’s legendary former batsman Younis Khan.

“My goal is to perform as good as the great Younis Khan. I have played with him as well. I try to give a hundred percent in each match. I try to work as hard as I can. You can see the gradual progress we are making. You can see that in the way our opener Shan Masood played which was outstanding; he played well in the previous matches as well. So you will hopefully see progress going forward as well,” he concluded.