"No disrespect to them" - Ahmed Shehzad says not a single Indian bowler can instill fear in the minds of the batters
Ahmed Shehzad has opined that there has been no bowler in Indian cricket who can scare his opponents with his skills.
In a chat with Nadir Ali on his podcast, Pakistan batter Ahmed Shehzad was asked to name the one Indian bowler who would be like a major threat to the opponents. Shehzad replied that India has produced some good bowlers like Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah, but none of them can instill fear in the minds of their opponents as such.
"No disrespect to them. But there hasn't been any threatening bowler from India that the opposition batter is scared to play him. They have good bowlers like Bumrah, Jadeja and Ashwin, but there has not been a dangerous bowler as such. Their batters are dangerous," Shehzad replied.
Shehzad further highlighted that India has always produced world-class batters. He even said that the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma should come to Pakistan and entertain their Pakistani fans.
"I can't recollect any other bowler apart from Shoaib Akhtar" - Ahmed Shehzad names the most dangerous Pakistan bowler he has faced
During the same chat, Ahmed Shehzad was asked to name the most threatening bowler from the Pakistan team whom he has faced.
"I can't recollect any other bowler apart from Shoaib Akhtar. When I was new to the team, he was already THE Shoaib Akhtar. So I faced six-eight balls from a reverse-swinging old ball against Akhtar," he replied.
Listing down the top two qualities of Akhtar, Shehzad continued:
"He had 2 great qualities. First, he never bowled no-balls in the nets. Second, he never bowled unnecessary bouncers to the batters in the nets. He knew the batter would get hurt."
Shehzad concluded by saying that Akhtar's long run-up and bowling style used to scare him when he batted against him. However, he understood that he should only focus on the ball and not on the bowler while playing against Akhtar.