On 26th March 2017, Pakistan introduced yet another young talent in green – Shadab Khan – against West Indies. From debuting at the age of 18 and earning the Man of the Match in his very first match to his notable performance in the Champions Trophy the same year, Shadab Khan has ever since becoming the talk of the town.
Pakistan indeed gained an exceptional talent, who still being young – just 23 – has a long way to make extraordinary records. However, his journey of 5 years has already been affected by recurrent injuries and is still haunting him.
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White-ball bowling stats
Since his entrance into international cricket, Pakistan’s current white-ball vice-captain has taken 62 ODI wickets in 46 innings with his best figures being 4/28 against Zimbabwe in 2018. Whereas, Khan has taken 73 T20I wickets in 60 innings, having 4/14 as his best figures against West Indies back in 2017.
Nevertheless, the most paramount of his recent presentations have to be his 4/26 in T20 WC’21 against Australia, which almost took his side to the final, until Matthew Wade snatched it back from Pakistan in Afridi’s second last over. Not to mention that the leg-spinner’s 4/26 figures are known to be the best ever in a T20 World Cup semi-final.
An impactful all-rounder
As his performance in the T20 WC’21 demonstrated how he could be a game-changer for Pakistan through his bowling, the leg-spinner has been gradually proving himself as an all-rounder as well.
Being a lower-order batsman, although Khan has not yet gotten a big break to prove the batting talent he possesses, he has still managed to play some impactful knocks; such as his 28* at a strike rate of 233 against West Indies recently in Dec 2021, which led him to be the player of the match for his all-round performance.
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The most impressive player of PSL 7
Over and above that, the all-rounding capabilities that he portrayed as the captain of Islamabad United, having 268 runs at a strike rate of 162.2 while also taking 19 wickets simultaneously, in PSL’22 deserve utmost applause and show what he’s capable of doing in green as well. The most significant of his knocks, while pushing himself up in the batting order at no. 3 or 4, has to be his 91 off 42 in response to Multan’s massive target of 217.
Albeit going in vain, the United’s Skipper proved himself as a fighter under pressure with his aforementioned captain knock. To say nothing, he was also the bowler of the tournament while missing 3-4 matches due to his injury – 5/28 being his best figures against Quetta Gladiators. His remarkability in PSL led many on Twitter to call PSL as “Pakistan Shadab League” and some to name him “Shadab SUPERSTAR Khan”.
Subjected to Injuries
Whilst being such a remarkable talent and still have a long journey to display his extraordinary geniuses, Pakistan has been intermittently deprived of Shadab Khan’s valuable contributions due to his recurrent injuries – from suffering his first injury in 2018’s Asia Cup to missing out on South Africa’s tour, and Zimbabwe’s home series after a toe injury in 2021.
As he suffered from his dropping bowling form over the years due to his recurring injuries in white-ball cricket, the 23-year-old returned better than ever in T20 World Cup’2021 and carried on with his attention-getting impactful performances all the way to PSL’22.
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Back to uncertain participation
However, as he was shining with his all-round capabilities, the injury got to Pakistan’s white-ball vice-captain once again in a PSL match against Karachi Kings in Feb’22; later identified as a groin injury. Although Khan did not get into an immediate long rehab and in fact returned to lead his team in the PSL’s playoffs, his participation was considered uncertain in the first two ODIs of Pakistan’s home series against Australia.
Whereas Khan already rested for the 1st and 2nd ODI, his participation is still doubtful in the 3rd ODI now. The reason for this uncertainty has been credited to not aggravating his recent groin injury. Such an unpredictability yet again poses the question of whether the bowling all-arounder would once again be either missing out on future international white-ball cricket or face a loss of bowling form anew?