Dubai: Pakistan’s Yasir Shah, the 28-year-old debutant who stung Australia with a spell of three for 66 on Friday, is delighted that legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne praised his bowling on social media.
Shah had modelled himself watching videos of Australian Warne, who is Test cricket’s second-highest wicket-taker of all time with a tally of 708. After the Pakistan bowler’s fine spell on Friday, Warne wrote on Twitter: “I like the look of this leggie Yasir Shah, plenty of energy and nice variations of pace.”
When asked about the tweet, Shah could not contain his joy, saying: “Shane Warne was my motivation. I started bowling leg breaks after watching him bowl on television. A friend of mine sent me a video of Warne from London and I used to watch it every day and tried to copy his action and the way he used to bowl. Warne was a legend and he is my idol.”
Talking about his debut experience, Shah said: “I was a bit nervous because the occasion was big, but then I became normal and bowled with a plan. This was a big occasion for me so I had planned to bowl in one direction, one spot and all the seniors motivated me to focus on a good line and length.”
It was Shah who ended centurion David Warner’s impressive knock by bowling him for 133. “I was very happy to get Warner out because we needed his wicket as he was playing fast. Everyone was giving me advice. Younis Khan and Misbah [ul-Haq] were very supportive and giving me advice, so it was good support all around.”
Meanwhile, Warner admitted he was disappointed with his team’s overall batting display, as they were dismissed for 303 despite an opening partnership of 128.
“The way we batted is disappointing. Conditions are quite tough, but we look at the run out [Alex Doolan]. You shouldn’t be giving run out chances in Test match cricket. We pride ourselves on our running and unfortunately Alex gets out,” he said.
Century run
Answering a query from Gulf News about his splendid form and how it feels to join the legendary Don Bradman in scoring centuries in three consecutive innings, Warner said: “It comes with a lot of luck. I’ve had a couple of chances dropped in South Africa and here, if I was reviewed I was out as well. That’s the game. Sometimes it’s in your favour, sometimes you nick the first few in your next couple of innings.”
“You have to keep riding that rollercoaster of being in form. It’s how you play. You’re going to have some luck.”
Though his team is trailing by 189 runs, Warner was still confident of victory.
“It’s hard to go out there and score runs fast. With the ball turning, it’ll be quite tough. They’re going to want to get as many runs as they can as fast as they can but we will try and shut the scoreboard down and take wickets at the same time. Tomorrow [Saturday] will be a tough day for us and our bowlers but we have to try and do as much as we can to take 10 wickets,” he said.
