Meet Saleem Safi, The 23-Year-Old Pacer Who Ripped Apart India In One-Off Test

Saleem Safi picked up a fifer against India [Source: AFP]

With no Rashid Khan in the Afghanistan Test setup, there was one question in everyone’s mind: who would get wickets against the Indian batters in the one-off Test match? The Mullanpur surface was a batting paradise, and the Indian captain, Shubman Gill, elected to bat first as the visitors had a tough mountain to climb.

The Indian openers, as expected, started with a flurry of runs as KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant all scored runs and punished the Afghanistan bowlers. The temperature soared to 44 degrees, and the Afghan hopes were fading with each passing ball before Saleem Safi raised his hands and became the wicket-taker.

Saleem Safi rips through Indian batters in one-off Test

Safi’s first wicket in India’s first innings was the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal. Just when the opener started to loosen up, Safi dismissed him for 24 of 32. His next two victims were Sai Sudharsan, and Shubman Gill.

The pacer knocked Sudharsan for 81, and then took the all-important wicket of captain Gill, who scored a majestic hundred.

Safi’s fourth victim was Dhruv Jurel. The Indian keeper was looking in ominous touch before Safi dismissed the right-handed batter. The Afghan pacer then created history and picked Manav Suthar’s wicket to scalp a fifer against a strong Indian batting lineup.

The Indian batters piled on a truckload of runs, but Safi impressed as he somehow halted India’s momentum with his maiden five-wicket haul.

Who is Saleem Safi? The pacer who halted India's momentum

A 23-year-old right-arm pacer, Safi has the ability to swing the ball both ways at a decent pace. He sometimes lacks control over his lines and lengths, but when he gets it right, the batters tend to struggle.

Also Read: Afghanistan’s Saleem Safi Takes Brutal Revenge From Dhruv Jurel, Celebrates Wildly

Even in the match against India at Mullanpur, Safi conceded runs at more than 5 runs per over, but he has a lion's heart as he never gave up and dismissed five Indian batters.

So far for the Afghan national side, Safi has played 2 ODIs, a solitary T20I game, and this is his second-ever Test match. In the solitary T20I game, Safi had zero wickets to his name, while in two Tests so far, the pacer has bagged 5 scalps. In the two ODIs, the pacer has yet to open his bowling-wicket tally.

Despite Safi's brilliance, Afghanistan on the back-foot vs India

It won’t be an understatement to say that Safi was the lone warrior for his side with the ball as the Indian batters hardly felt any pressure from the other end.

After claiming his maiden fifer in Tests, Safi bagged yet another wicket to get his sixth victim in the one-off Test. There is a clear gap in terms of skillset between Safi and other Afghan bowlers, as he has taken 6 wickets, while the others have managed only two.

In the one-off Test match, KL Rahul and Shubman Gill scored brilliant hundreds, and Rishabh Pant, and Sudharsan scored classy fifties as India breached the 500-run mark easily, and have pushed the visitors on the back-foot as the Afghanistan side has a mountain to climb.

Also Read: Shreyas Iyer's Doppelgänger In Pakistan Caught Enjoying Babar Azam's Boundary