Shahid Afridi: “The A team should be as strong as the main team, so if Shaheen or Babar or Rizwan aren’t strong, we shouldn’t have the excuses of players being unavailable, like we do with Naseem now”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi believes the national team need to stop making excuses when it comes to players being unavailable, such as fast bowler Naseem Shah, who is currently recovering from a shoulder injury.
Afridi noted that the men in green have used Naseem’s absence as a reason for their subpar bowling performances, but insisted that such justifications are not good enough.
He pointed out that the Pakistan A team should be just as good as the national team, whereby if a player is injured or can’t be selected for a different reason, there are plenty of other options to pick from.
“I have always said that unless our bench is strong we won’t be able to take the best decisions. The A team should be as strong as the main team, so if Shaheen or Babar or Rizwan aren’t strong, we shouldn’t have the excuses of players being unavailable, like we do with Naseem now. When our bench is strong, we will no longer have excuses,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan recently lost 3-0 in their Test series against Australia and then proceeded to get demolished 4-1 in their five-match T20I series against New Zealand.
Naseem is expected to make a comeback during the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he will play for Islamabad United.
PSL 9 will get underway on February 17 and be played in four cities – Lahore, Multan, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Islamabad United Squad for PSL 9:Â Shadab Khan (captain), Naseem Shah, Imad Wasim, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Alex Hales, Colin Munro, Rumman Raees, Tymal Mills, Matthew Forde, Salman Ali Agha, Qasim Akram, Shahab Khan, Hunain Shah, Ubaid Shah, Shamyl Hussain, Tom Curran, Jordan Cox