Pakistani star pacer, Shaheen Afridi belittles Indian bowler
Shaheen Afridi- KL Rahul (Image Source: Twitter)
The Indian T20 League has just concluded. It has been the season of the newcomers. While the tournament was won by the debutants, Gujarat, some players making their debut in the tournament have also impressed the cricketing fraternity. The most exciting prospect and discovery of the tournament have been the tear-away young Indian pacer, Umran Malik.
The young bowler from Jammu and Kashmir, Umran Malik was a part of the Hyderabad team for the 15th edition of the tournament. He impressed everybody with the potency he brought on to the table using his sheer pace. He picked up 22 wickets in the tournament. But he grabbed the attention of the cricketing world as he regularly clocked 150 kmph + on the speedometer. He bowled a ball at 157 Kmph, which turned out to be the second-fastest delivery of the tournament. He was holding the record for the fastest delivery of the tournament till the final of the same, where Lockie Ferguson bowled a 157.3 delivery.
While everybody in the cricketing fraternity is excited to see Umran Malik run in, the Pakistani speedster has some different opinions about the youngster. When asked about how fast Lockie Ferguson and Umran Malik were bowling in the tournament, Afridi said – “Speed can’t help you if you don’t have line and length and swing.”
This statement came from the speedster during a press meet ahead of the upcoming series versus West Indies. Afridi was the pick of the bowlers for his team in Pakistan’s last home series against Australia. He is hoping to carry the same form into the West Indies series. However, he also expressed his concern that the weather might be problematic for the bowlers.
“The weather is hot but we are looking forward to playing good cricket in it. It would be a tough challenge for the fast bowlers to bowl long spells in summer but as a professional, we are ready to face it,”- said Afridi.
While speaking about the visiting West Indies team in the next series, Afridi called the opposition a strong unit. But also stated the fact that they would give their best to win the tournament to collect important points for the World Championships.
“This is an important series in terms of World Cup qualification which is why we don’t want to lose any match. Also, West Indies are a strong international side and it is not as if they are sending under-19 players for this series,”- added Afridi.
