Waqar Younis: “He’s just falling all over the place, you know, bowling on the pads, outside the off stump he’s tried around the wicket, over the wicket, nothing really worked for him, and I’m sure he will even sit back with Morne Morkel”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Iconic Pakistan swing maestro Waqar Younis believes fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi needs to go back to the drawing board and work on his bowling as he is “falling all over the place.”
He added that the 23-year-old may be succumbing to the pressure of having to take early wickets with the new ball.
As a result of the massive responsibility on his shoulders, Waqar feels that Afridi has tried adapting his game to get more success, but it hasn’t really done the trick.
“He’s just falling all over the place, you know, bowling on the pads, outside the off stump he’s tried around the wicket, over the wicket, nothing really worked for him, and I’m sure he will even sit back with Morne Morkel,” he told Star Sports as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Afridi was recently in action in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup and picked up 18 wickets in nine matches, which included a five-wicket haul against Australia, at an average of 26.72.
Pakistan started the tournament on a high as they defeated the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.
However, things fell apart from there as they lost to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
The men in green found themselves teetering on the brink of elimination, but managed to stay in contention for a spot in the semi-finals after bouncing back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand.
However, they failed to qualify for the final four and ended up losing their last group stage game against England by 93 runs.
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