Shaheen Shah Afridi: “All in all, our guys played some good cricket with Naseem Shah and Mohammad Abbas putting in some good performances with the ball”
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Pakistan left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi said he has been really impressed with the pace duo of Naseem Shah and Mohammad Abbas.
This comes after the tour of England, where Naseem and Abbas featured in the three-Test series, which Pakistan lost 1-0.
Naseem took three wickets at an average of 69.33, while Abbas picked up five wickets at an average of 35.80.
Even though Pakistan lost the Test series and drew the three-match T20 series 1-1, Afridi believes his side played “some good and attractive cricket”.
“Although the final result did not go in our favour, we did play some good and attractive cricket,” he told PakPassion. “Whilst we did lose the first Test, we were unlucky to have been unable to get better results in the second and third Tests due to the presence of rain.
“All in all, our guys played some good cricket with Naseem Shah and Mohammad Abbas putting in some good performances with the ball. Before the series we had felt that the Dukes ball would favour our style of bowling but unfortunately that didn’t work out.
“All in all, the tour of England was tough, as they are a strong team in home conditions, with some outstanding players in their red ball and white ball squads. Despite results not going our way, it was a great learning experience for me, and I feel it’s the sort of tour that will help me become a better cricketer in future.”
Afridi is now playing for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the National T20 Cup and finished with figures of 1-38 off his four overs in the team’s opening match against Northern, who are the defending champions.
However, his effort with the ball went in vain as Northern cruised to a 79-run win behind Haider Ali’s 48-ball 90, which included seven boundaries and five sixes, and Zeeshan Malik’s 47-ball 77, which included eight boundaries and three sixes.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s next game will be against Balochistan on October 2.
Naseem played for Central Punjab on Wednesday and finished with figures of 1-40 off his four overs. Despite being expensive, Central Punjab beat Southern Punjab by seven wickets thanks to debutant Abdullah Shafique’s unbeaten 102.
Abbas is part of the Southern Punjab squad, but wasn’t picked for the match against Central Punjab.
Southern Punjab’s next game will be against Northern, who are the defending champions, on Thursday, while Central Punjab will next be in action against Sindh on Friday.
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