I aimed at taking wickets, not dot balls: Shinwari

KARACHI: Left-arm pacer Usman Shinwari is famous for taking wickets as he is awfully aggressive. He was picked in Quetta Gladiators’ line-up for the first time in the Abu Dhabi leg of the PSL-6 on Tuesday night against Lahore Qalandars and he managed a win for the 2019 winners with his super bowling.

Usman picked 3-32 in four overs which earned him the man of the match award. After removing Sohail Akhar (0) and Mohammad Hafeez (1) in the beginning, Usman got the prized scalp of dangerous Tim David, who scored a 27-ball 46 and could have sealed a win for Lahore had he stayed longer.

Usman is happy with his match-winning feat with the leather. “I am very thankful to God for the performance. We were discussing this in the meeting that if we won our three last games then we could create a chance. I got a chance, made full effort and God rewarded me,” Usman said after Gladiators sealed an 18-run win over Lahore at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

“When we started bowling I told Sarfraz that if he started bowling with me I would give him wickets and if we got a couple of wickets in the beginning then it would be difficult for them (Lahore) to chase,” Usman revealed.

He said that bowlers got ample movement with the new ball. “So far bowlers have got movement with the new ball and the ball is also getting seam movement if you pitch it up. If you bowl slightly up you will get swing and seam on these wickets,” the left-armer said.

“When I was coming for the last over I was thinking that I should try to take wickets and not to bowl dot balls. I thought if I conceded a couple of boundaries but was able to get Tim David’s wicket then we would win the game and that happened,” Usman said.