Kamran Akmal: “This will help him get his rhythm back and shall increase his pace, too, which the Pakistan team needs right now”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Kamran Akmal, the former wicketkeeper-batsman, said left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi has to increase his pace for Pakistan’s sake.
He noted that the men in green made a huge mistake by not making Afridi play all five ODIs against New Zealand from April to May 2023.
In that series, the 23-year-old took eight wickets in four ODIs at an average of 24.50.
While he took plenty of wickets, Akmal felt that playing all the matches would have helped Afridi regain his rhythm and boost his bowling speed. In his opinion, this is crucial as the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup is just around the corner.
“This will help him get his rhythm back and shall increase his pace, too, which the Pakistan team needs right now,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Afridi recently played in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka, where he took six wickets at an average of 37.33.
Despite not being at his best with the ball, the men in green still won the series 2-0.