Former India coach unimpressed with Shaheen Afridi’s comeback
Shaheen Afridi, Mohammed Shami (Image Credit: Twitter)
Pakistan lead pacer, Shaheen Afridi played his first competitive after recovering from knee injury against England. It was a warm-up game in a build up to the Super 12 round of the 20-20 World Cup 2022. Afridi was injured since the Sri Lanka tour in July this year. He missed the Netherlands tour and the Men’s Asia Cup 2022. The left-arm pacer was assumed to be missing the ongoing World Cup.
However, Shaheen made his comeback and will be playing the tournament. In the warm-up game he played against the Three Lions, he bowled two overs and gave away only seven runs but couldn’t pick a wicket. Meanwhile, former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar is unimpressed with Afridi’s comeback. He said that Mohammed Shami‘s comeback was better than his Pakistani counterpart.
Bangar pointed out that the former Pakistan U19 player didn’t bowl a single in-swinging delivery. The former feels that Afridi is not yet confident of his position on the crease.
“I don’t think Afridi’s return was as good as Shami’s. The special thing was that he didn’t bowl a single incoming delivery. All his deliveries were going away from the batters, which means it is clear that he is not yet fully confident of his position on the crease, the strong position he has,” Bangar mentioned during a discussion on Star Sports.
Shaheen Afridi might have might a change in his technique: Sanjay Bangar
The former India cricketer added that he feels Afridi has made a slight change in his technique. The former wet on to say that if it’s the case, it is not a good sign for Pakistan.
“I also feel he has made a slight change in his technique. If he has made a change at this stage, especially the way he is releasing the ball, they are not good signs for Pakistan. The fact that the balls are not swinging into the right-handed batters will be a slight breath of relief for the Indian top-order batting,” he added.
