Shaheen Shah Afridi: “The Almighty has blessed me with the honour of taking my first five-wicket haul in front of a home crowd and in my country”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Pakistan left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi thanked “the Almighty” after he claimed his maiden five-wicket haul on the second day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Karachi.
Afridi, whose only other five-for came when he took a six-wicket haul during the World Cup earlier this year, dismissed Oshada Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dilruwan Perera and Lahiru Kumara.
The 19-year-old added that his achievement was made even more special since it came “in front of a home crowd and in my country”.
“The Almighty has blessed me with the honour of taking my first five-wicket haul in front of a home crowd and in my country,” Afridi was quoted as saying by PakPassion. “I feel very good about this [five-for]. The fact is that every bowler who has the ball in his hand feels like a leader of the bowling attack, and I always try to make sure that I bowl well.
“I felt good because in the past I had taken four wickets twice but today I took a five-for.”