Ravi Shastri: “He is a good bowler with the new ball and can pick wickets, but there is nothing special about him. He is only a decent bowler”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes there is nothing special about Pakistan left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi and called the newly-appointed T20I captain “decent” at best.
Afridi is Pakistan’s pace spearhead in all three formats and is one of the most dangerous fast bowlers in the world due to his incredible ability to take early wickets with the new ball.
However, while Shastri acknowledged this, he pointed out that he doesn’t see anything notable about the 23-year-old.
“He is a good bowler with the new ball and can pick wickets, but there is nothing special about him. He is only a decent bowler,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
In the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, Afridi took 18 wickets in nine matches at an average of 26.72.
Pakistan won their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before faltering against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite fighting back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they missed out on a spot in the semi-finals.
Pakistan ended their campaign on a sour note as they lost to England by 93 runs.
Afridi’s next assignment will be Pakistan’s three-Test series against Australia, which will start on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi