'My debut was toughest day of my life': Naseem Shah opens up on mother's death before international debut

Pakistan pacer Naseem Shah has been one the best finds for their team in recent years. He made his international debut at the age of 16 and has been one of the main bowlers for the Men in Green since then.

But it has not been an easy ride for the young pacer. Naseem Shah has gone through some tough times, with the hardest being his mother’s demise just one day before his international debut. Recently, Naseem Shah opened up about the incident during a chat with Nasser Hussain for Sky Sports Cricket.

Naseem stated that while he was “too attached” to his mother, he had moved to Lahore to pursue his dream of playing cricket. A day before his maiden appearance for the Men in Green in Australia, he talked to his mother and asked her to “watch the game tomorrow” because he would be playing. Naseem’s mother was overjoyed and said she would come to Lahore and watch him play. But tragedy struck. When Naseem woke up, the management informed the pacer that his mother had passed away.

Despite his loss, the youngster soon made his debut Test appearance against Australia in Brisbane and picked up David Warner’s wicket. Naseem also broke his silence about the struggles he endured after he started his career.

“For the next six-to-eight months, I struggled so much. No one thinks about what’s going on inside you. I used to have a lot of medicines, I saw my mom everywhere. I used to think about her a lot,” Naseem said.

He also spoke about the expectations he had to live up to. “Whenever you play for Pakistan, everyone expects performances from you. I had a lot of injuries during that time as well, so it was a tough time. I learned from it, though. I’m stronger now. My debut was the toughest day of my life. I can manage when I’m not performing well now, because I know how tough it was,” he added.

The Rawalpindi Test between Pakistan and England was another opportunity for the speedster to showcase his talent and Naseem did not disappoint his fans. He took 5 wickets in the fixture, with Liam Livingstone, Harry Brooks, and English skipper Ben Stokes among his victims.

The pacer has been ruled out of the third and final England-Pakistan Test. Naseem has been ruled out of the second game at Multan after a shoulder injury and has not yet fully recovered. The 19-year-old will undergo further assessment at Lahore’s National High-Performance Centre, before beginning his recovery process, according to a press release by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

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