Former Pakistan pacer Waqar Younis has raised his concern regarding the poor form of Shaheen Afridi in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023 in India. The Left-arm pacer struggled to pick up wickets with the new ball in the game against Netherlands and Sri Lanka, which eventually proved to be costly for the team in the marquee event.
Shaheen Shah Afridi had a forgettable outing in the second game against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad. The left-arm pacer of Pakistan conceded 66 runs and picked up only a solitary wicket in his nine overs in the game. Kusal Mendis was in a destructive mood against Afridi in the middle overs even hitting him for three consecutive boundaries in the game.
Speaking on Star Sports, Waqar Younis pointed out the flaw in Pakistan’s bowling in the ODI World Cup in India and raised concern regarding the form of Shaheen Afridi’s bowling in the game and feels that he is trying so hard in the game and believes that he would sit alongside bowling coach Morne Morkel to improve his game in the forthcoming matches.
“Pakistan’s success has come when Shaheen really picks up early wickets and over the years, he’s done it many times and, uh, and he’s got capacity, capability, but at the moment he’s trying too hard. He’s just falling all over the place, you know, bowling on the pads, outside the off stump he’s tried around the wicket over the wicket, nothing really worked for him, and I’m sure he will even sit back with Morne Morkel,” Waqar Younis said.
Pakistan’s bowling performance was under par in the first two games, as their primary bowlers Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Shadab Khan were under tremendous pressure in the game, failing to make an impact for the team and they will look to turn things around in the game against arch-rivals India on October 14th.
Shaheen Afridi Is An Important Member Of The Team – Waqar Younis
Waqar Younis also questioned the fitness of Shaheen Afridi in the game, as he wasn’t in full rhythm in the match against Sri Lanka. However, the former Pakistan skipper believes that given his recent success against India, Afridi could play a crucial role for the team on Saturday and backs Shadab Khan to come good on Saturday.
“And they’ll probably work out what is going wrong. I think there might be, uh, some action problem. What if he’s carrying any niggle or anything?”
“If he can fix this issue and with that left arm ball coming in, you know, early doors, You know, against India, we’ll be needing his services at the most because he has done it, uh, against India a few matches previously, so he’s an important member of the team.
“I’m gonna just chip in for Shadab as well, not really finding the rhythm, not really finding the area where he needs to bowl. So he’s also gonna sit down and chat about it,” Waqar Younis added.
Pakistan will take on arch-rivals India in their third game of the ODI World Cup on October 14th, The Men in Blue has been the dominating side against the Babar Azam-led side in the ICC events, while Pakistan will look to register their first victory against the Men in Blue on Saturday.
