Usman, Khushdil vow to be aggressive Down Under

Sports

LAHORE: The two surprise selections in the Pakistan Twenty20 team for the tour of Australia, leg-spinner Usman Qadir and middle-order batsman Khushdil Shah, have vowed to play aggressive cricket Down Under.

“Australians have mastered the art of playing pace and spin so I’ll try to go on the attack against them,” said Usman, the son of Pakistan’s legendary leg-spinner Abdul Qadir who passed away recently.

Usman, alongside Khushdil, was speaking to reporters here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday and added that his father had great desire to see one of his sons representing Pakistan.

“Unfortunately it couldn’t happen during his life as [his elder brothers] Salman and Imran couldn’t get into the team but I’ll try to make the most of my chance,” said the 26-year-old who has picked a modest 22 wickets in 24 T20 matches at domestic level.

Usman, who has played on Australia’s domestic circuit, said that the set up there was designed to “teach players how to counter the pressure situations”.

“I’m working on how to bowl yorkers,” he said, adding that while he has been picked as back-up for Shadab Khan, he was ready to play if he was called up.

Khushdil, meanwhile, said that he was “a power-hitter and would play aggressively in Australia”.

“Power-hitting is my strength and I would try to do much better to make my place in the team,” said the 24-year-old who has scored 698 runs in 35 T20 matches in domestic cricket at an average of 24.90.

He said while he had no experience of batting on Australian pitches, he had played on “bouncy tracks in Abbottabad and Islamabad”.

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