Last Updated on 9 months by Charbel Coorey
With four wins in a row, Melbourne Stars are back in the groove in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) 2024/25. Despite losing their first five games of the season, the Marcus Stoinis-led side have slowly started to move up in the points table. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that Usama Mir has been one of their best performers in the ongoing season so far.
With seven wickets in six games at an economy rate of less than eight, the Pakistani bowler has been very impactful for the Stars. In fact, Mir has been a consistent performer for the Melbourne-based franchise since 2023. The leggie is also one of the best spinners in Pakistan at the moment, and is the second-highest wicket-taker for Multan Sultans in Pakistan Super League (PSL) history. It is to be noted that he made his international debut for Pakistan in 2023 against New Zealand, and is a regular face in several T20 leagues across the globe.
During an exclusive interview with Arvind Kalyana Krishnan for CricBlog, Usama Mir spoke about his childhood heroes and favourite bowlers. He spoke about how he grew up watching Shahid Afridi. Further on, the 29-year-old also revealed his personal favourite performance of his career so far.
Also, Mir gave his opinion on Babar Azam, and drew light on the standards set by the batting maestro. He felt that the high expectations from Azam is the reason behind people criticising him time and again. Further on, Mir didn’t seem to be too concerned about the Pakistani batter not scoring an international century in the last 12 months. Babar’s last international hundred came against Nepal in August 2023.
Having said that, the former Pakistan skipper has looked better in the last few games as he scored five fifties during the recently-concluded all-format tour to South Africa. With a few glimpses of his pre-2023 form, Mir, Pakistan, and Babar Azam fans would be hoping to see their star player get to the three-figure mark soon. As for the Stars spinner, he last played an international game in April 2024, and was hopeful of playing the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 for Pakistan.
Usama Mir interview – Shahid Afridi my childhood hero
Below is the audio and full transcript of our interview with Usama Mir.
Arvind Kalyana Krishnan: My first question to you is that while growing up, you had a lot of bowlers that you saw and a lot of players that you’ve grown up watching. So do you have childhood heroes? Any favourites?
Usama Mir: Yeah, like Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik. I started watching cricket after looking at them and started playing cricket after looking at them. So you can say that Shahid Afridi is my childhood hero, and because of whom I started cricket.
Arvind Kalyana Krishnan: Also you’ve played a lot of noteworthy games and you’ve played very well. So in your opinion, what do you think would be your best performance so far in your career?
Usama Mir: So far, you can say I guess last year, during the PSL…..Like I got six wickets against Lahore Qalandars…..Because my mother was there so that’s why that was like special.
Arvind Kalyana Krishnan: So right now in the current generation, who are your favourite bowlers?
Usama Mir: So obviously Rashid Khan currently is the best bowler in the world, so he’s also my favourite bowler.
Arvind Kalyana Krishnan: So my last question to you is that Pakistan cricket are playing at the moment and Babar Azam hasn’t scored a hundred in a long time and although no doubt he’s one of the best players in the world, but whenever anything goes wrong in Pakistan cricket, people blame Babar Azam. So regarding his form of late, what is your opinion on Babar Azam currently?
Usama Mir: No no, as such there’s nothing like that. Like basically, whenever there’s a lot of expectations from someone, these things come into play. I think in cricket, this in-form and out-form will come and go and are normal. (Regarding Babar Azam not scoring a hundred of late) And for the rest, I think he just needs one good innings Inshallah.
