LONDON: Australia’s middle-order batter and the captain of the Middlesex County Cricket Club Peter Handscomb heaped praises on the Pakistani left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, termed the latter as the No.1 bowler.

Handscomb, in an interview with ESPN Cricinfo, opined about the inclusion of Shaheen in the Middlesex camp and claimed that the left-arm pacer came in as the world’s No.1 bowler and lifted everyone’s spirit in the team.

“It does help [to have] Shaheen Afridi coming in as the No. 1 bowler in the world – that lifts everyone,” Handscomb said.

“He brings something different that we don’t have which is incredible,” he added.

It’s worth noting that Shaheen, who made his first-class debut at Lord’s, got two wickets in two balls for Middlesex against Leicestershire before Louis Kimber blocked down an inswinging yorker that would have given him his hat-trick.

In his side’s dominant ten-wicket victory against the visitors, Shaheen took six wickets – three in each innings.

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