Pakistan's fresh spin-talent Yasir Shah looks a lot like Argentina talisman Lionel Messi and has just made his international debut after being introduced in the squad against Australia weeks ago.
However, Shah, unlike Messi, is not interested in football. He wants to follow in the footsteps of Australian spin legend Shane Warne and be an amazing leg spinner. Though not an international superstar yet, the easy-going Shah, who made an impressive Test debut against Australia just weeks ago, has already created an identity for himself in cricketing circles, The Dawn reported.
And if his coaches are to be believed, the 28 year-old can go on to become one of Pakistan's leading bowlers in the years to come.
Pakistan's spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed said that Shah has all the variations that a leg-spinner requires, adding that they just need to improve on the accuracy.
Despite growing up in an era punctuated with two local leg-break heroes, Shah has credited Australian legend Shane Warne for inspiring him to take up the game. He said that it was during the Carlton and United series of 1996-97 that he would wake up in the middle of the night for every Pakistan match and by the end of the series he knew that he wanted to be a cricketer.
Shah's cousin, who was responsible for the initial push towards professional cricket, moved to England by the time he made the Pakistan Under-19 team. The cousin would send Shah bowling and coaching videos of Warne from his time in the English county season.
Shah said that he would listen to Warne's tips and instructions in those videos and tried to follow the way the Australian bowled; everything from basic leg-spin to flippers and top-spin.
Shah claimed that he is able to bowl googlies now but admitted that he still has a long way to go before he reaches the same level as Abdul Qadir or Saqlain Mushtaq.
