PAK vs WI | ‘Got motivated after Babar Azam called me buddha’ - Shadab Khan

Fresh from his heroics in the third and final One-Day International (ODI) against West Indies, Shadab Khan revealed his motivation behind his all-round show at Multan last evening (June 13), which helped his side complete a 3- 0 clean sweep against the Nicholas Pooran-led XI.

According to cricketpakistan.com, Shadab said, "I got a lot of motivation after Babar called me buddha. After getting injured, it's difficult to field properly, so that's why he called me buddha,"

Shadab slammed a 78-ball 86 to pull Pakistan out of the ditch, who were stranded at 117 for 5. He then claimed four wickets to deny West Indies any chance of winning.

Talking about the match and his performance, the leg-spinner said, "It was a pressure situation, and I and Khushdil Shah planned to take it easy till the second powerplay, and we would take our chances after the 38th over in two-over power play.

Shabad has struggled in the past few years with his bowling and leaked runs in the mid-overs.

Speaking about his ordeal, he said, "I have been working hard at the National High Performance Center to bowl more overs because it was initially difficult to bowl after getting injured. Hopefully, I will keep working hard and try to improve."

He was quick to defend his batters, who crumbled on the track, which looked on the friendlier side.

"But, it's cricket, you can get out on a good batting pitch. As you saw today, Nicholas Pooran took four wickets. I saw Pooran bowl for the first time and he claimed four wickets," the 23-year-old concluded.

Shadab finished as the second-highest-wicket taker in the series (7) behind Mohammad Nawaz, who is ahead by virtue of a better average. He has scored 114 runs across 3 games, with an above 100 strike-rate. Shadab was one of the key architects of Pakistan's 2017 ICC Champions Trophy win hosted by England.