Yasir Shah

Pakistan’s mainstay leg-spinner who loves to bowl like Shane Warne, Yasir Shah is a stocky bowler, who has quick-arm action and can extract spin under any given condition. Shah’s crowning moment came when he became the fastest to pick 200 Test wickets. The leggie also shares the record of second-fastest to reach the 100 Test wicket mark. 

Yasir made his first-class debut in February 2002 and did the hard yards in the domestic circuit for nine-long years before making his international debut. After a long wait, the spinner made his maiden ODI appearance during the Zimbabwe tour in 2011. He took two wickets on debut and then played two T20Is on the same tour, but couldn’t make any mark. 

The Khyber-born had to wait for three more years to make his Test debut. When Pakistan was in a fix after the action ban imposed on Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez, Shah got his moment to shine. The leggie played his first Test against Australia in 2014 in Dubai, where he took 7 wickets in the debut match and finished his maiden Test series with 12 scalps. After that, he was drafted in the series against New Zealand and took his maiden fifer against the Blackcaps at Dubai. 

From there on, Shah became a regular in Pakistan’s Test side. On the back of performances in the longest format, the spinner made an ODI comeback during the 2015 World Cup but played just a single game against the arch-rivals India, at Adelaide Oval. In the next couple of years, he played a few ODIs but started getting dropped after the emergence of Shadab Khan.

Yasir might not have had the best of times with the white ball but he surely has mastered the longest format. In 2015, during the Sri Lanka tour, the leggie became the fastest Pakistani to take 50 Test wickets. During his 17th Test, Yasir took his 100th Test scalp to become the second-fastest to complete the feat in the history of Test cricket. Three years later, he broke the 82-years old record to become the fastest to 200 Test wickets in his 33rd game, after which his idol, Warne hailed the Pakistani as “best in the world”. 

Over the years, the spinner has struggled to find his place in the Pakistan limited-overs sides but he has played a couple of Big Bash League (BBL) seasons and has also showcased his skills in the 2018-19 edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). 

Since 2019, the talented Shah has had a series dip in form. He has struggled at both home and foreign conditions. In 2020, during the Australian tour, the leggie gave runs at an economy of over 5 but cherished his maiden Test ton at Adelaide. In 2021, he performed well in the home season but later was dropped from the Test tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe. 

(As of March 2021)