Who is Salman Mirza - Pakistan pacer who can make Shaheen Afridi fight for his spot in XI

Who is Salman Mirza - Pakistan pacer who can make Shaheen Afridi fight for his spot in XI

Pakistan didn't get off to the best of start in the ongoing T20I series against Bangladesh. In the absence of famed stars - Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf - the Men In Green endured a seven-wicket defeat in the series opener played in Dhaka. The inexperience caught them bad and it reflected on the scoreboard.

Batting first Pakistan were folded for 109 in 19.3 overs with Fakhar Zaman's 34-ball 44 being the highest individual total. Zaman was the most experienced member in the XI. The top and middle-order collapsed and Pakistan at one stage were reduced to 46/5 in the 8th over. With hardly anything to defend, the Pakistan bowlers, particularly Salman Mirza gave the team some respite but Bangladesh recovered and wrapped the chase with 27 balls to spare. Parvez Hossain Emon finished unbeaten on 56 off 39 balls, featuring three boundaries and five maximums.

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Meanwhile, Mirza, making his first appearance for Pakistan in any format, returned with two scalps, which rattled Bangladesh before the storm settled down. Mirza injected twin blows in consecutive overs, dismissing opener Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Litton Das for one run each inside the powerplay.

With Pakistan resting their stars, as mentioned above, this is a great opportunity for them to try their bench strength and Mirza appears to be a promising prospect.

Who is Salman Mirza?

Salman Mirza is a left-arm seamer and delivers in similar style as Shaheen Shah Afridi. He can swing the ball both ways and operates at good pace. If we look at his stats, Mirza has played 23 T20 matches, in which he has 39 wickets at an average of 14.74. Interestingly, he has three four-wicket hauls in those matches.

In Pakistan Super League (PSL), Mirza plays for Lahore Qalandars and has 11 wickets from six matches, which includes one four-wicket haul.