Pakistan’s latest pace sensation Usman Khan was given an enormous task of filling in the void left by Mohammad Amir in the recently-concluded series against Sri Lanka.
What made his task even more difficult was the inexperience? He had played only 19 first-class games and a solitary One-Day International when he walked into the attack in the fifth and final match on Monday (October 23).
He had shown promising signs on his debut when he took one for 38. However, he marked his arrival on the highest stage of the game in his second game, as he conceded four runs less and took four wickets more. The left-arm pacer’s maiden five-wicket haul blew away Sri Lanka, as he justified the team management’s decision of giving him the responsibility to replace the incumbent Amir who got ruled out of the series with a shin injury.
Speaking after the game, Usman admitted replacing Amir was tough and expressed his delight over passing the test with flying colours.
“It’s a big responsibly to come in for Amir. Even my relatives were saying that I am replacing Amir so I should do well. You can’t compare me from him because he is a great bowler. It was great to do well in his absence,” Usman told journalists after his bowling heroics.
“Very happy to do so well in my second match. If you notice us, before the match, we do warm-ups, and our bowling coach tells us to attack from the first ball. That’s what I did and managed to get early wickets,” added Usman who took just 21 balls to claim his five wickets.
Meanwhile, Pakistan thrashed Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the last game of the series to clean sweep the five-match series. Riding on Usman’s sensational spell, the Champions Trophy holders bowled the visitors out for a paltry 103 before chasing down the total inside 21 overs to register their ninth consecutive win.
Pakistan bowling coach Azhar Mahmood also had a word of praise for Usman, comparing him with the legendary Shoaib Akhtar.
“I like his hunger for wickets. I watched him in the PSL when he came to play and had not seen him before, and I was very impressed. I have seen Shoaib Akthar blowing away sides before, and this was something similar,” Azhar said.