Matthew Hayden: “Shaheen Afridi was not at his best”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Australia opening batsman Matthew Hayden believes Pakistan left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi was “not at his best” during the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Afridi was Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 18 wickets in nine matches, which included a five-wicket haul against champions Australia, at an average of 26.72.
Despite this, Hayden, who has previously worked with Pakistan as a batting consultant and mentor, pointed out that he knows the 23-year-old could have done much better.
“Shaheen Afridi was not at his best,” he told ESPNcricinfo as quoted by Geo Super.
Pakistan won their first two matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing four in a row to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they fought back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they were unable to progress to the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign on a low as England pummelled them by 93 runs.
Afridi is now representing Pakistan in their three-match Test series against Australia and took two wickets in the first Test in Perth, which Pakistan lost by 360 runs.
The second Test will get underway on December 26 in Melbourne.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series:Â 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