 "Naseem Shah said asking for rest can jeopardise a player's career in Pakistan. Reuters")
Pakistan pacer Naseem Shah has said that the country’s “cricketing culture” does not allow the pacers to ask for rest as they are afraid of hurting their careers. Shah, who recently returned to cricket after a five-moth injury layoff, added that Pakistan team needs a culture of workload management.
Shah had endured the injury during the 2023 Asia Cup where he injured his right shoulder, forcing him to miss the ODI World Cup.
“I think, unfortunately, in Pakistan, the case is different. Here, the situation is such that if a newcomer performs in one game, the main bowlers are afraid of their place in the XI and wonder if they will be retained for the next game. That fear does not allow players to rest because sometimes when you rest, your career can end up resting in peace,” Shah said to CricWick.
“There’s also a fear among players and our culture is such that if we say our bodies aren’t 100 percent or we are tired, there will be a lot of chatter about our commitment towards playing. Even the players start talking about you so you don’t take rest voluntarily.
“The way to avoid that could be if the physio or bowling coach pre-decides the number of games you will play in a series. It will always be better. It [workload management] should happen but it is not in our culture.”
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had recently cancelled Haris Rauf’s contract after decided to give the Australia tour a miss to manage his workload.
Opening up on his injury, Shah said that the shoulder injury was a result of him not understanding the problem clearly.
Impact Shorts
View All“I didn’t understand it well [my shoulder]. I had stiffness for a while but after warm-ups, I would feel better. I didn’t understand it well, so I played through it. But during the Asia Cup, I had a tear and felt something tearing inside me,” he revealed.
“Later, during the surgery, I found out there was a tear of up to four or five centimetres. I felt a tear when I was bowling the last over against India. Earlier, in the tournament, I had dived and hurt my shoulder but I didn’t think it was serious as I only faced slight stiffness.”