Shahid Afridi: “Bad days come in players’ careers but benching him won’t work”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
What will Pakistan accomplish by continuing to bench exciting players like fast bowler Shahnawaz Dahani, former interim chief selector Shahid Afridi has asked.
Dahani has shown plenty of promise at the domestic level and despite having made the jump to international cricket, his chances have been sporadic.
Since he has not been given any consistent game time, it has been hard for him to get the results people expect of him.
This is what Afridi has a problem with as he feels if the 24-year-old is not being given a fair chance to prove his worth, then his talent is simply going to be wasted.
“Bad days come in players’ careers but benching him won’t work,” he was quoted as saying by Cricwick.
Dahani has represented Pakistan in two ODIs and 11 T20Is to date, with his last match having come in October 2022.
He was included in Pakistan’s team for both the Test and ODI series against New Zealand, but didn’t get the opportunity to play a match.
Both Tests ended as a draw, while New Zealand won the three-match ODI series 2-1.
Dahani only played one match for the Multan Sultans in the ongoing season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) before being ruled out for the remainder of the tournament after fracturing his finger.
The Sultans have won four out of the seven matches they have played so far.
Their next game will be against Islamabad United on Tuesday.
Multan Sultans Squad for PSL 8: Mohammad Rizwan, Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw, Shan Masood, Tim David, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah, David Miller, Josh Little, Akeal Hosein, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Sameen Gul, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Sarwar, Arafat Minhas, Kieron Pollard, Ammad Butt, Izharulhaq Naveed (partial replacement for David Miller), Mohammad Ilyas (replacement for Shahnawaz Dahani), Carlos Brathwaite (replaced Wayne Parnell)