Matthew Hayden: “You’ve got to be conservative against Shaheen Afridi. Remember the T20 World Cup in 2021. We’ll never forget that ball he bowled to Rohit Sharma, so a little bit of caution is needed against Shaheen Afridi”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Matthew Hayden, the iconic Australia big-hitting opener, has warned batsmen to be cautious when facing Pakistan left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi as he is starting to find his groove again.
Afridi is coming off a stellar bowling performance in Pakistan’s 62-run loss to Australia in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he finished with figures of 5-54 off his 10 overs.
In addition to rediscovering his form after a couple of disappointing performances, Hayden pointed out that the 23-year-old is capable of unleashing unplayable deliveries.
To further drive home his point, the Australia great highlighted the ball Afridi bowled to India captain Rohit Sharma in the 2021 T20 World Cup.
“You’ve got to be conservative against Shaheen Afridi. Remember the T20 World Cup in 2021. We’ll never forget that ball he bowled to Rohit Sharma, so a little bit of caution is needed against Shaheen Afridi,” he was quoted as saying by respected journalist Saj Sadiq on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Pakistan started their World Cup campaign with victories over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before suffering back-to-back losses to India and Australia.
Afridi, who has a total of nine wickets to his name, will be looking to add more to his tally when Pakistan take on Afghanistan on October 23 in Chennai.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali