Shaheen Shah Afridi received advice from former Pakistani captain Waqar Younis to bowl like Indian fast Jasprit Bumrah in light of his poor performances at the current ICC Cricket World Cup. Cricketer Shaheen Afridi did not perform well in Pakistan’s three games thus far in the competition, taking just four wickets while giving up 139 runs at a pitiful economy rate of 6.31.
Younis claimed that in the three games he has played in the main event thus far, the Pakistani bowler has lost his composure. The Daily Star cited Waqar Younis as stating, “I’m not sure whether he has a fitness issue. His bowling lacks discipline, and he is overly focused on getting wickets. Batsmen know when you do the same thing over and over again, like Shaheen is bowling to get his yorker going, and they are ready for it.”
Waqar on cricketer Shaheen Afridi:
Younis went on to use Bumrah as an example, emphasising the pacer’s assault against Pakistan in Ahmedabad, a match that the reigning champions won by a margin of seven wickets. After taking out Shadab Khan and Muhammad Rizwan, Bumrah finished with remarkable stats of 2/19 in seven overs and was named Player of the Match. The 29-year-old has eight wickets at an outstanding economy rate of 3.44, making him the joint top wicket-taker in the ODI World Cup.
The former cricket player said, “Bumrah is applying pressure, and the top of the off stump is his line. He bowled so well against Pakistan and created pressure to get wickets.”
The former cricket player and current commentator continued by suggesting that Shaheen’s performance might have been impacted by Naseem Shah’s absence, who was usually his new-ball partner. No one can say that Pakistan has lost their discipline because they missed one bowler, the 51-year-old continued. After suffering a shoulder injury during the rain-shortened Asia Cup 2023 match between Pakistan and India in September, Naseem, 20, was declared out of the competition.
Younis added, “Naseem bowls well and doesn’t give up many runs. Batsmen take chances with other bowlers and gain wickets when Naseem applies pressure. “I don’t think it’s because they are not keeping it simple; I think it’s because they are missing just one bowler.”
So, this was all about Waqar talking about the cricketer Shaheen Afridi. Also read, ODI World Cup 2023: First-week top record breakers.
