Shoaib Malik talked about how he was comfortable playing against Irfan Pathan and how former Indian bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra troubled Pakistani batsmen.
The left-arm pace trio of Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, and Ashish Nehra played a great role in India’s success in the 2000s and helped Team India clinch their maiden ICC T20I World Cup in 2007 and then 50-overs World Cup in 2011.
Irfan Pathan had great success against Pakistan as he scalped 34 ODI wickets in 23 games against arch-rivals but former Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik found it comfortable facing the left-arm quick. He amassed 1782 runs against India in ODIs at an average of 46.89.
While speaking in an interview with Cricwick, Pakistan batsman Shoaib Malik said that he played Irfan Pathan well because he didn’t have out-swingers that time and he prepared himself accordingly.
“My average against Irfan Pathan is good because I play the inswing well. At that time, Irfan did not bowl out-swingers. He added it to his arsenal later, but early in his career, he majorly bowled in-swinging deliveries. So, I knew he would bowl an in-swinger, and I prepared myself accordingly,” Shoaib Malik told Cricwick.
Shoaib Malik further admitted that former India pacers Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan created a problem for him because the duo always targeted the ‘edges of the bat’ and hence, was more successful.
“Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra targeted the edges of the bat. Hence, they took many wickets against Pakistan. If a bowler targets the edge, he will be more successful. I feel my ability to play the in-swinging deliveries helped me do well against Irfan,” he said.
(Crickwick inputs)
