Shadab Khan Shines in Lanka Premier League with Colombo Strikers
Shadab Khan, a Pakistan leg-spin allrounder, is having a fantastic debut in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) Season 5 with Colombo Strikers. In his very first game, he took a hat-trick against Kandy Falcons and has since taken 16 wickets, the most by any bowler this season.
As the LPL moved from Dambulla to Colombo, Shadab picked up his third four-wicket haul of the tournament against Jaffna Kings at the R Premadasa Stadium. Shadab, who had not taken a single wicket for Pakistan in his last seven international games, is enjoying the conditions in Sri Lanka, especially at his team’s home ground in Colombo.
“I was struggling for three months. I hadn’t taken a wicket in the last seven international games. I come here, start bowling, and am now always taking wickets. That is the beauty of cricket. You have to enjoy these types of scenarios as well… sometimes you perform, sometimes you don’t. But the process that you follow has to be consistent,” Shadab said after taking 4/10 from his four overs against Jaffna Kings.
Talking about his first outing this season in Colombo, Shadab said that the pitch was helpful for spinners but added that a T20 bowler needs to have variations to be successful across conditions. “The pitch was helping us as it was a bit slow and gripping a bit… But T20 cricket is very hard nowadays as 200 is easily chaseable. As a spinner, you have to have your variations, because on flat tracks, if you don’t have variations, you can go for runs. But if you have variation, you can take wickets as well as contain runs. So that is very important, and also important that you land it in a good area,” Shadab said.
Shadab, who has already spread an undefeatable spinning web, also wants to contribute as an allrounder across all departments of the game for his franchise Colombo Strikers. “I am performing for my team and that is a good sign. I am the main bowler and if I am taking wickets, that is a positive sign for me and my team. I want to contribute in all three phases. So far I am contributing in two as a bowler and fielder. Hopefully, I can contribute with the bat too,” Shadab concluded.