ISLAMABAD: Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal believes Pakistan’s veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik was a better player of spin bowling as compared to Australia’s prolific batsman Steve Smith.
The 29-year-old has featured in 52 ODIs and 42 Twenty20s for India so far and has taken 91 and 55 wickets, respectively.
Chahal was asked to rate the best players of spin bowling in the world, at the moment during an Instagram live session, from a list of five players which included India’s Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, Australia’s Steve Smith and England’s Joe Root.
“Virat and Rohit are obviously quality players of spin bowling so they will be at the top,” cricketpakistan.com.pk quoted him as saying.
“Also Williamson makes life difficult for spin bowlers because he plays the ball really late, especially on a pitch that is slow.”
While heaping praise on Malik, Chahal recalled the 2018 Asia Cup clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan which the Men in Blue won by nine wickets in convincing fashion.
“I was bowling to Shoaib Malik during the Asia Cup and was impressed with the way he was taking singles of good deliveries. I realized that this player has a lot of experience and I think he is better than Steve Smith when it comes to playing spin bowling,” he said.
Malik, 38, had scored 1,898; 7,534 and 2,321 runs for Pakistan in 35 Tests, 287 ODIs and 110 T20s, respectively. He captained Pakistan team from 2007 to 2009 and retired from Test cricket in November 2015 while announced his retirement from ODIs in July 2019.