I doubt that's true, Nikki. If you had watched them both, you would have seen how Shaheen bowled in the group stage match against India in the Asia cup. Or you would have been impressed by the way he dragged us back into the contest against the Lankans.
He has a killer slower ball and gets extra bounce even with the old ball. His yorker is also the best in the game, barring perhaps Bumrah. One bad game doesn't make Shaheen a liability in the middle or the death.
Boult simply hasn't played enough ODIs, which is also why Starc isn't here.
Billu bhaijaan , please keep your green tinted bias aside because you have Rizwan at #7 and he maybe Pakistan's best at death hitting but he's one of the worst in the world because Pakistan is one of the worst in the world at death hitting.
Against top 6 sides since last World Cup,
Shaheen has taken only 9 wickets in the powerplay at a strike rate of 40.
Boult has already taken 11 wickets at a strike rate of
15.
Starc has 17 wickets at 24 strike rate. But Starc is poor elsewhere and that's why I have taken Siraj who has 11 wickets at strike rate 33 but is also good in every phase.
Shaheen is an absolute minnow in the middle overs with a strike rate of 52 . And you know what, Haris Rauf is actually worse with a strike rate of 63.
I need to remove Rauf from my XI when even Washington Sundar has a similar strike rate in the phase.
Mohammad Shami can barely make our side and he has a strike rate of 22 in the middle overs against these sides.
Nortje would have been ideal but he's injured. One of Hazlewood/Shami is a much better option than Rauf actually.
Pakistani bowlers have all taken wickets at the death against top teams. That's the only place where Haris/Naseem/Shaheen used to combine to choke teams and even then it was mostly Haris and Naseem .
Once Naseem 's extreme control in all phases vanished, this attack started falling apart.
Even then Shaheen is not much better than Hazlewood at the death and Boult has been really good at the death whenever he has bowled.
Basically , PAK attack bullied a lot of minnows, and are exceptional at the death - specifically Haris and Naseem . Even with new ball , Shaheen was good but not great and are absolute pants in the middle overs.
So my new XI is,
Travis Head
Gill
Bobby
Shreyas
Klaasen
Miller
Maxwell
Boult
Siraj
Zampa
Hazlewood
Thanks for opening my eyes and making me look at their numbers. I simply assumed Rauf was good.
