"Respect Him But Don't Fear Him": Young Pakistan Pacer On Bowling To Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is regarded by many as the best batsman in the world currently and the prospect of bowling to him surely makes a few bowlers very nervous. Pakistan's 17-year-old pace sensation Naseem Shah, though, is looking forward to taking on the India's batting star and said that while he respects the Indian captain, he doesn't fear him. "I hope that I can bowl well against India when that chance comes by and won't let our fans down. As for Virat Kohli, I respect him but don't fear him," Naseem Shah said.

"It's always a challenge to bowl to the best, but that's where you have to raise your game. I look forward to playing against Virat Kohli and India whenever that chance comes, the young pacer was quoted saying by PakPassion.net.

Naseem became the youngest fast bowler in history to take a five-wicket haul in an innings and a hat-trick in consecutive Tests against Sri Lanka (December 2019) and Bangladesh (February 2020) in Karachi and Rawalpindi.

Naseem, who burst onto the scene on Pakistan's Australia tour last year, is the youngest fast bowler and second bowler overall to take five wickets in a Test innings.

He achieved that feat at 16 years and 307 days against Sri Lanka in Karachi last year.

Virat Kohli has taken world cricket by storm with his batting exploits in recent times. The Indian skipper has broken records at will in the past two years but one person who is always been hot on on his heels is Australia's Steve Smith.

While many have admitted that Virat Kohli is head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to the limited-over formats, some are of the belief that Smith is better when it comes to the longest format.

As per the current ICC Rankings, Smith heads the list in Test rankings with Kohli hot on his heels. In the ODI rankings, Virat Kohli sits pretty at the top followed by teammate Rohit Sharma with Smith not featuring even in top 10.

In T20Is, Pakistan batsman Babar Azam is in number one spot followed by India star KL Rahul with Kohli currently in 10th spot. Smith is currently in 52nd spot in the table.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team Virat Kohli Naseem Shah Cricket