No one can replace Yasir Shah in Pakistan's Test side: Saeed Ajmal

Former cricketer Saeed Ajmal believes that Pakistan is yet to find a proper replacement of leg-spinner Yasir Shah in Test cricket.

While speaking in an exclusive interview with Cricket Pakistan, the former spinner said that Yasir didn’t deserve to be dropped from the recently-concluded Zimbabwe Test series if he was fit.

“No one has been able to replace Yasir Shah in Test cricket till now,” Ajmal said. “I think Yasir Shah still has two or three years of cricket left in him. He should play if he is fit. He is your top performer in Test cricket and you can’t drop him like that.”

“Babar Azam and Azhar Ali also said that we play only five or six Tests in a year, so how can we afford to give chances to new players as we already have a separate set of Test players. If there are only six Tests in a year and you rest Yasir for three of them, then what will he do?” he questioned.

ALSO READ: Babar Azam deserves to be in control of team selection: Rehman

Ajmal also said that it is too early to judge left-arm spinner Nauman Ali’s true potential as he is yet to face a team ranked above Pakistan in Test ranking.

“We will find out about Nauman Ali’s ability when he will bowl against a top team. It is different ball game to bowl in Australia, England and New Zealand as compared to Pakistan,” he said.

“Nauman bowls with a little more pace and he will be successful in Asian conditions. You can’t be successful by bowling with flight in Asia, so you need to bowl with more pace as a spinner. Whereas, in Australia or England, you need to give loop to the ball in order to generate spin. Nauman bowls wicket to wicket and doesn’t generate a lot of spin. So, he needs to work on that,” he concluded.