Having made his debut in Australia a few months ago, Naseem Shah has quickly risen to become Pakistan's spearhead. Along with Mohammad Abbas and Shaheen Afridi, he has formed a potent pace attack, which has the potential to serve Pakistan successfully over the next many years.

Pakistan has now played this triumvirate in three consecutive tests. In the 5 innings that Abbas, Shaheen, and Naseem have bowled together, they have collectively accounted for 34 out of the 50 wickets that Pakistan has taken.

The trio have a total of 30 tests among themselves; two of them are still in their teens. So young and inexperienced, yet they have given Pakistan glimpses of the hey days of Pakistani pace.

Their numbers are quite remarkable.


Look at those averages and strike rates!

While Abbas is the workhorse who bowls tirelessly at a miserly economy, Shaheen and Naseem strike with their pace. Shaheen has consistently provided the early breakthroughs, while Naseem has provided the closing touches.

NASEEM SHAH
He is only 16 years and 4 tests old and he has already played an instrumental part in Pakistan's last two test victories.

Yesterday he became the youngest bowler to take a test hatrick and only the 4th Pakistani bowler to achieve the feat following in the footsteps of Wasim Akram, Abdul Razzaq, and Mohammad Sami.

For all of Pakistan's sake let us hope that he continues to follow in the footsteps of the former.

Naseem's 4-26 in the second innings initiated Bangladesh's collapse from 124-2 to 168 all out, setting up an innings win for Pakistan.

In his previous test, the second of the series against Sri Lanka, Naseem became the youngest bowler to pick up a five wicket haul in a test innings. His 5-31 in the second innings led Pakistan to a test and series win.

What is even more impressive about Naseem is the fact that 9 of his 13 test wickets till date have come in the opposition's second innings, which is testament to his fitness, passion, and motivation level.

MOHAMMAD ABBAS
In the period since Abbas made his test debut in April 2017, he has one of the best test bowling averages in the world. He has the best economy rate in the world in that period and he is among the only 4 bowlers in the world who have picked up a 10 wicket haul in tests in this period.


SHAHEEN AFRIDI
Shaheen is the only one among the three who has excelled across formats for Pakistan. Not only is his test average of 28 impressive, his ODI and T20I averages of 21.2 and 20.8 respectively are also top notch.

In the period starting from April 2018, when Shaheen made his international debut, he is among the top 10 wicket takers in all international cricket.


In this period, he has the second best strike rate in the world, behind only Kuldeep Yadav's. There is no pace bowler in the world who has a better strike rate than Shaheen Afridi's in the past two years!

And his international bowling average of 23.5 is bettered by only Pat Cummins and Jasprit Bumrah.

For a 19 year old this is quite remarkable.



As a trio, Abbas-Shaheen-Naseem have worked wonders for Pakistan. Let us hope that they will continue to create the same magic for many more years!

Let us hope that Abbas will continue to deceive batsmen with his seam, Shaheen will continue to dismiss opposition openers in the first few overs, and Naseem will continue to give us fiery wicket taking spells reminiscent of the two Ws and Shoaib Akhtar.

Pakistan has always had an abundance of fast bowling resources but so many of them have disappeared into the wilderness due to mismanagement of talent and general issues within the system.

Let us hope that this does not happen to this triumvirate and that they continue to excite, enthrall, and entertain Pakistan cricket fans for a long time.

This morning, with Australia at 91-7, a friend on Whatsapp commented that this has got to be the mother of all comebacks after Pakistan were 57-5 on the first morning of the test.

That discussion led to more examples of Pakistan coming from behind to win a test.

Here are five of Pakistan's great test wins that came after they had their backs against the wall.

PAKISTAN VS NEW ZEALAND
ONLY TEST
HAMILTON 1993
On a green top, a typical surface in New Zealand, Pakistan were put in by the Kiwis and in no time were reduced to 12-3. A customary captain's innings of 92 from Javed Miandad saved Pakistan from complete disaster as they managed a somewhat respectable 216 in the first innings.

Mark Greatbatch played a magnificent knock of 133, but Wasim, Waqar, and Mushtaq ensured that New Zealand do not bat Pakistan out of the game. The rest of the Kiwi batsmen could not do much and New Zealand took a modest 48 run lead.

Pakistan's woes against seam and swing continued in the second innings as they were bundled out for 174 with the only saving grace being Inzamam's 75.

Set a target of 127, it should have been a walk in the park for New Zealand.

But Pakistan's deadly Ws duo had other things in mind.


Wasim Akram bowled unchanged for 22 overs and dismissed half the New Zealand side, with Waqar Younis running through the other half, leaving the Kiwis in tatters.

The greatest pacers to play for Pakistan destroyed New Zealand giving Pakistan an unlikely 33 run win.

PAKISTAN VS INDIA
FIRST TEST, ASIAN TEST CHAMPIONSHIP
KOLKATA 1999
Having just drawn the test series 1-1 with India, Pakistan took on India again in Kolkata in the first match of the Asian Test Championship.

After winning the toss and batting first, within 45 minutes of the game, Srinath and Prasad had Pakistan reeling at 26-6.

The entire batting line up, barring Saleem Malik (32), had succumbed to the seam and swing of India's opening bowlers. Moin Khan played a valuable knock of 70 and with support from Malik and Wasim Akram (38), managed to give Pakistan a total of 185.

India could not capitalize on this as they also folded for 223 in the first innings as Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar shared 7 wickets, including Shoaib's two scalps of successive yorkers to Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.


Pakistan's second innings was a one man masterclass from Saeed Anwar as he carried his bat with a magnificent career best 188 off 259 deliveries, which was laced with 23 boundaries and a six. He found some support from Mohammad Yousuf (56) with the rest of the Pakistan batting not doing much.

Javagal Srinath, Pakistan's first innings tormentor, took 8 wickets in the second innings, giving him career best match figures of 13-132.

Thanks to Saeed Anwar, Pakistan managed to post 316, giving India a target of 279 to win. In response, India managed only 232, and Pakistan won by 46 runs.

No one expected Pakistan to win after they were 26-6 inside 9 overs on the first morning of the test.

PAKISTAN VS INDIA
THIRD TEST
KARACHI 2006
This test match started in similar fashion to the one in Kolkata. After winning the toss, Indian put Pakistan into bat on a breezy Karachi morning on a damp wicket.

At the end of the first over, Pakistan were 0-3 having lost Salman Butt, Younis Khan, and Mohammad Yousuf to an Irfan Pathan hatrick!

By the 10th over, Pakistan were reeling at 39-6.

Kamran Akmal then played the innings of his life as he smashed 18 boundaries in a classy 113 where he shared a 115 run 7th wicket partnership with Abdul Razzak (45) and a 82 run 8th wicket partnership with Shoaib Akhtar (45) to take Pakistan to a respectable 245.


Pakistan wrested the initiative away from India once again as Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, and Abdul Razzaq combined to bowl India out for 238.

In the 2nd innings, Pakistan just smashed their way to 599-7 declared. Faisal Iqbal hit 139 and every other batsman that batted got 50+, including a couple of 90s from Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Razzaq.

India managed only 265 in their improbable chase of 607, giving Pakistan their largest win ever by 341 runs (which was later broken in 2014 when Pakistan beat Australia by 356 runs).

Who would have thought that Pakistan will manage a record breaking win after they were 0-3 on the first morning!

PAKISTAN VS ENGLAND
SECOND TEST
ABU DHABI 2012
This was the second test of the series against England and Pakistan were behind in the entire game except for the final 30 overs of the match.

On day 1, Pakistan collapsed from 203-4 to 257 all out as Broad, Anderson, and Panesar proved too much for Pakistan's lower order. In response England posted 327 taking a 70 run first innings lead.

In the second innings, Pakistan again could not handle Monty Panesar as he picked up 6 wickets to bowl Pakistan out for 214.

Needing only 145 runs to win, England began their chase cautiously putting on 20 runs in 14 overs. They lost Alastair Cook to Hafeez off the final delivery of the 15th over to make it 21-1.

Then the carnage began.

From there it went to 26-2, 37-4, 68-7, and then 72 ALL OUT !

Abdur Rehman's 6-25 and Saeed Ajmal's 3-22 gave Pakistan one of their most improbable wins ever.


No one gave Pakistan a chance to defend 145, but they did and how. It was a great escape and a wonderful win! 

PAKISTAN VS ENGLAND
THIRD TEST
DUBAI 2012
After winning the series following the great escape in Abu Dhabi, Pakistan should have been confident going into bat after winning the toss in the third test against England.

However, within 45 minutes of the morning, Pakistan found themselves at 21-5, with Broad and Anderson ripping through the batting. Panesar further added to their woes and Pakistan were bowled out for 99.

England should have run away with the match but their Abu Dhabi tormentors, Rehman (5-40) and Ajmal (3-59), combined again to restrict England's lead to only 42 runs.

In the second innings, Azhar Ali (157) and Younis Khan (127) combined in a 200 run partnership to give Pakistan a 300 plus run lead.


Pakistan set England a target of 324, which at the end proved too much for them.

No one thought Pakistan will end up winning the test by 71 runs after they were bowled out for 99 in the first innings.

Stuart Broad's three wickets in the first innings of the second test against Pakistan at Leeds took his tally to 414 test wickets, level with Pakistan legend Wasim Akram, making him joint 8th on the list of fast bowlers with most test wickets.

Broad's partner James Anderson is second on that list, behind only Glenn McGrath, and collectively the Anderson-Broad pair have 952 test wickets!

That is the most for any fast bowling pair in the history of test cricket.

In comparison, Wasim-Waqar have 787.

McGrath-Gillespie have 822.

Walsh-Ambrose have 924.

Pollock-Ntini have 811.

In my view, these are the 5 most potent fast bowling pairs that we have witnessed in test cricket in the past 3 decades.

The age old adage "Fast bowlers hunt in pairs" holds true when one looks at each of these pairs have achieved together in test matches.

What one also realizes after looking at these figures is that the Wasim-Waqar pair were miles ahead of the rest!

In tests that these pairs played together, the Anderson-Broad pair lead the wickets tally with a combined haul of 806 wickets, followed by Walsh-Ambrose with 762.

These two pairs have also played the most number of tests together, 106 and 95 respectively.

In comparison, the other three pairs have played only 58-63 tests together.

Wasim-Waqar played only 61 tests together, in which they picked up 559 wickets at an average of 22.1 and a strike rate of 45.7.

The 2 Ws have the best average among these pairs, which is marginally ahead of Walsh-Ambrose and significantly ahead of the rest.

They also have the best strike rate among the 5 pairs and it is miles ahead of the rest. The 2 Ws picked up a wicket every 45 deliveries, whereas none of the other pairs managed to do so in less than 50 deliveries.

Their 5WI and 10WM hauls are also more than each of the other pairs.

The Ws picked up a 5 wicket haul in every other test they played together. In fact their ratio of matches to 5WI hauls is 1.6!

That's how far above the 2 Ws were compared to other fast bowling pairs.

What makes the 2 Ws even more special is that more than half of their tests, 32 to be exact, were played in the subcontinent! Significantly more than the other 4 pairs.

Test cricket never has and probably never will see a pair like the 2 Ws. They truly were special!

While Babar Azam has been taking huge strides and making headlines as a batsman, Hasan Ali,also in his early twenties, has been making waves for Pakistan as a bowler.

23-year old Hasan Ali has been exceptional with the white ball in the 15 ODIs he has played for Pakistan. He has been a bit on the expensive side with an economy rate of 5.92, but he has picked up wickets in heaps and he has picked them fast.

Last night against the West Indies, he picked up his second 5 wicket haul in ODIs taking his tally to 28 wickets in only 15 ODIs.

He has bowled a mere 120 odd overs for these wickets, which basically means that he has been picking up a wicket every 4 overs or so.

That is quick!

BEST STRIKE RATE EVER FOR PAKISTAN

In only 15 ODIs, Hasan has achieved the best ever strike rate for a pace bowler for Pakistan in ODIs - 26.4; i.e. a wicket every four and a half overs.

Like Babar, he too has a long way to go to be considered in the same league as Pakistan's best, however his start has been quite amazing.

He has already picked up two 5 wicket hauls, half as many as Shoaib Akhtar did in his entire ODI career, and a third of what Wasim Akram achieved in 20 years.

ONE OF THE BEST STRIKE RATES IN THE WORLD

Among all international pace bowlers (excluding associate nations), Hasan's strike rate of 26.4 is 9th best, and he is the only Pakistani in the top 10 best strike rates in ODIs.

He has surpassed a number of quality bowlers to be make this list and it will take one hell of a sustained high level performance to maintain this strike rate.

He has surprised many with his pace, and now he is surprising us all with his wicket taking skills.

ONE OF THE BEST AVERAGES FOR PAKISTAN

Pakistan has not found the same caliber of pace bowlers as Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

Shoaib Akhtar promised much, but injuries never left him. Mohammad Asif could have reached the same league, but his vices got the best of him. Mohammad Aamer made the world take notice with his scintillating first year in international cricket, but he does not look like the bowler he did in 2010.

It has been 14 years now since Wasim and Waqar last played for Pakistan. In these 14 years, Pakistan has fielded a number of pace bowlers, with only a handful that made a lasting impression.

Hasan Ali is one of them. In his short career he has shown immense wicket taking ability, which has resulted in him having the second best bowing average for Pakistan since the retirement of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

You would have never guessed that Aizaz Cheema would be at the top of this list!


Hasan Ali is not in the same league as the two Ws, nor is he a special talent like Asif or Aamer. But he is capable of producing fiery spells. surprising batsmen, and picking up wickets quicker than most bowlers. He has the ability to constantly provide breakthroughs and is a major asset in limited overs format.

Hasan Ali is also a special one who needs to be handled with care by the Pakistan team management.

I believe a mistake has already been committed by including him in the test squad. I hope it is a one off, I hope he does not play any of the tests, and I hope the selectors can safeguard his future by telling him that they want him to focus on leading Pakistan's limited overs pace attacks.

Pakistan's pace bowling legacy rests on the shoulders of the two Ws, who without a doubt, are a class above other pacers that have played the game. With over 1700 collective international wickets, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis destroyed many a batting line up and to date remain the best fast bowlers to ever play for Pakistan. Arguably, the best in the world too.

Since they left cricket over 10 years ago, Pakistan has produced plenty of fast bowlers who have tried to live up to the legacy of the two Ws. Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, and Mohammad Aamer all showed glimpses of potential that could have taken them to the same heights, but their flaws had the better of them. Aamer may still have the chance, bur the former two will always be a what if for Pakistan cricket.

However, this World Cup gave Pakistan a hero. A very unlikely bowling hero in another W - Wahab Riaz!

Not only was Wahab Pakistan's leading wicket taker in the World Cup 2015, but against Australia he produced one of the most lethal fast bowling spells seen in the tournament, and arguably ever in ODIs. His first two overs produced wickets of David Warner and Michael Clarke, and his next 4 overs were purely hostile.

Wahab's contest with Shane Watson is being talked about all over the world and it will forever be remembered as the best contest within a World Cup game. If were not for a dropped sitter at fine leg, Wahab may have won the match for Pakistan, and he may have taken them all the way.

Wahab has had a chequered career. His 5 for in Mohali 4 years ago was a high point in his career, but in the four years since, he produced little for Pakistan, mostly failing to live up to the hype around him. He remained in and out of the Pakistan side, and largely remained a fast bowler who was easily hit around.

In this World Cup however, Wahab picked himself up and raised his game to another level. He beat Zimbabwe single handedly and gave Pakistan a classic old fashion victory against South Africa. Both those performances came in must win pressure games for Pakistan.

And then there was the spell against Australia.

Wahab's career figures don't say much. An average of over 30 and a strike rate of over 32 are hardly pleasing. But his World Cup figures are legendary,


He is already the 4th highest wicket taker for Pakistan among pacers in World Cup matches. Only Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, and Shoaib Akhtar have more wickets than him. And he has played far lesser matches than the them.

Wahab's average among Pakistan's pacers in World Cup matches is bettered by only Waqar Younis (slightly) and Imran Khan. He averages better than Wasim Akram, better than Shoaib Akhtar.

And his Strike Rate is unmatched. A wicket every 25 deliveries puts Wahab head and shoulders above all other Pakistan bowlers in World Cups.

In this World Cup, Wahab Riaz played with passion and aggression, and it was heartening for everyone to see a Pakistan pace bowler give his heart and soul to the team's cause.

Pakistan may have lost the World Cup, but they have undoubtedly found a World Champion.