Umar Gul: “Shaheen used to bowl at 140 kph in [white-ball cricket]. However, when you switch from white-ball cricket to red-ball cricket, you search for your rhythm first”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan fast bowling coach Umar Gul admitted that left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi used to bowl at 140 kph and attributed his drop in pace to the switch between formats.
He noted that when players switch from white-ball to red-ball cricket, it takes a little time for them to find their rhythm, especially if they haven’t played Test cricket for a long time.
Afridi recently featured in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia and in addition to his obvious lack of pace, he also didn’t look as threatening as he usually does.
This resulted in him picking up eight wickets in two Tests at an average of 41.62 as Pakistan lost the series 3-0.
“Shaheen used to bowl at 140 kph in [white-ball cricket]. However, when you switch from white-ball cricket to red-ball cricket, you search for your rhythm first,” Gul was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“Since they are playing red-ball cricket after a long time, their body gets tired fast and they are not used to bowling long spells. It will take time for our bowlers to get in rhythm and bowl at good pace.”
Afridi will now make his debut as T20I captain in Pakistan’s five-match series against New Zealand, which begins 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
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What was he doing in world cup with white ball speed not over 130 k .lame excuses. If u r not fit let other to come in team pakistan is full of fast bowling talent.
Shame on him being the asset of pakistan cricket