From bowling barefoot to playing for Pakistan within five years of starting proper training to overcoming career-threatening injuries, the 19-year-old pace sensation's rapid evolution has put him in the spotlight in this Asia CupDUBAI: Two days after he limped off the field with cramps against India, Pakistan's pace sensation Naseem Shah was back in the nets delivering thunderbolts. All of 19, the spotlight has been chasing him here at the Asia Cup. In the days leading up to the first India-Pakistan game last Sunday, all the talk revolved around the absence of Shaheen Shah Afridi. In a matter of four overs, at the same venue where Afridi had dismantled India last October, Naseem staked his claim as the most lethal pacer in this tournament. Pakistan captain Babar Azam, in fact, went on to state after the match, "The way Naseem started, we didn't feel that we were missing Shaheen." Baby-faced and all of five-foot-seven inches, at first glance Naseem doesn't appear to be the quintessential tearaway, someone who can breach the 90-mph barrier with consistency. What is astounding is that he took to formal coaching barely five years ago.
