Watch: Shaheen Afridi ‘struggling’ to complete ‘second run’ against Zimbabwe in 20-20 World Cup 2022
Shaheen Afridi (Image Credit: Twitter)
Pakistan lead-pacer Shaheen Afridi made his comeback in the national side ahead of the ongoing 20-20 World Cup 2022. In July this year, he sustained a knee injury during the tour of Sri Lanka. The left-arm pacer missed the Netherlands series, Men’s Asia Cup in the UAE last month, and the home series against England. He was set to miss out on the ongoing showpiece event.
However, to the fans’ surprise, the former U19 player made his comeback and played the warm-up games against the Three Lions and Afghanistan. He had decent games against these teams. In the Super 12 game against India, he went wicketless and was bashed for 16 runs in his last over. After the game against Zimbabwe, he is still wicketless in the tournament.
Meanwhile, during the dying moments of the Zimbabwe-Pakistan game, he came out to bat with his side needing to score three runs off the final ball. Brad Evans who bowled the last over, bowled close to yorker length. Afridi responded with a mistimed slash toward long-on. Notably, the long-on fielder came in to avoid conceding the second run. In the meantime, the left-hander was seen struggling a bit after turning back for the second run.
Watch the video here
OMG! Just see Shaheen Afridi running???
Only fools cann't see it!!! pic.twitter.com/XC9ryr382Z— Shakil Shaikh (@shakilsh58) October 28, 2022
After watching the video, it begs a question ‘Was Shaheen rushed for the 20-20 World Cup 2022‘? Notably, he hasn’t been able to click at the same pace that he used to do pre-injury. A lot of former cricketers have said that Afridi didn’t look 100 percent fit in the two games played by Pakistan.
Meanwhile, 2009 winner Shahid Afridi has said “I won’t say much as there are still three games left. It’s up to the captain to decided if he wants to play Shaheen or not. But if feel, if you have five bowlers, don’t expect all of them to peform. Same is the case with the batters. So we want Shaheen to get back into rhythm. I think he bowled better against Zimbabwe than India. Our bowlers have to warmed up before the match. You can’t go into a match thinking that I will pick up the pace after bowling two-three balls. That’s not the case as batters are ready to target you,” Afridi said during a discussion on SamaaTV.
