David Warner: “It’s been a long few months for Shaheen [Afridi] as well, he’s bowled a lot in the World Cup. You’ve got to try to apply pressure to their senior bowler”
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Australia opening batsman David Warner said it is imperative for opposition teams to put pressure on Pakistan pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Afridi is Pakistan’s go-to option when the team is in need of wickets and he has regularly delivered across all three formats.
However, the 23-year-old looked subpar at times during the recent three-match Test series against Australia, which Warner attributed to Afridi’s heavy workload over the last few months.
“It’s been a long few months for Shaheen [Afridi] as well, he’s bowled a lot in the World Cup. You’ve got to try to apply pressure to their senior bowler,” the 37-year-old, who retired from Test and ODI cricket, was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Warner brought his Test career to an end in style as he scored 299 runs, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 49.83.
As for Afridi, he took eight wickets in two Tests at an average of 41.62.
Pakistan lost the Test series 3-0 and Afridi will now make his debut as T20I captain in the five-match series against New Zealand, which starts on January 12 in Auckland.
Pakistan Squad for New Zealand T20I Series: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abbas Afridi, Azam Khan (wicketkeeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Usama Mir and Zaman Khan