Matthew Hayden: “Those 2 balls from Shaheen Afridi were as good as any I have ever seen, full stop”
Image courtesy of: Pakistan Cricket Board
Iconic Australia opener Matthew Hayden said the two deliveries Pakistan left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled to India openers Rohit Sharma and Lokesh Rahul in the T20 World Cup “were as good as any I have ever seen, full stop”.
Afridi trapped Rohit lbw for a golden duck before cleaning up Rahul with an absolutely incredible delivery.
He also dismissed India captain Virat Kohli for 57.
The 21-year-old was named Man of the Match for his figures of 3-31 as Pakistan beat India by 10 wickets, which marked their first-ever World Cup win over their arch-rivals.
Afridi ended up taking seven wickets in six games during the tournament at an average of 24.14 and an economy rate of 7.04.
Matthew Hayden "Those 2 balls from Shaheen Afridi were as good as any I have ever seen, full stop" #INDvPAK #T20WorldCup
— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) October 25, 2021
“Those 2 balls from Shaheen Afridi were as good as any I have ever seen, full stop,” Hayden, who was Pakistan’s batting consultant during the T20 World Cup, was quoted as saying by Saj Sadiq on Twitter.
In the three-match T20 series against Bangladesh, Afridi only played one game, but recorded figures of 2-15.
He followed that up with seven wickets in the first Test, which included a five-for in the second innings.
Pakistan won the first Test by eight wickets and will be looking to secure a 2-0 series win in the second Test, which will begin on Saturday in Dhaka.
Pakistan squad for Bangladesh Test series: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Bilal Asif, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Afridi, Zahid Mahmood