Usman Khawaja: “He is Pakistan’s best bowler and you need to make sure that he is on the park for as long as he can and for the most amount of Test matches he can play”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Australia opening batsman Usman Khawaja believes Shaheen Shah Afridi is “Pakistan’s best bowler.”
Afridi is the leader of Pakistan’s pace attack in all three formats and he has also developed a reputation of being one of the top new ball bowlers since he keeps taking early wickets.
Given how talented the 23-year-old is, Khawaja wants to see him in action in as many Test matches as possible.
During the recent three-Test series against Australia, Afridi only featured in the first two games before being rested for the third Test in Sydney.
Afridi concluded the series with eight wickets at an average of 41.62.
He then proceeded to captain Pakistan in their five-match T20I series against New Zealand and snapped up nine wickets at an average of 19.22 and an economy rate of 8.94.
“He is Pakistan’s best bowler and you need to make sure that he is on the park for as long as he can and for the most amount of Test matches he can play,” Khawaja was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Afridi’s next assignment will be the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he will captain the Lahore Qalandars.
PSL 9 will be played from February 17 to March 18 in four cities – Lahore, Multan, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Lahore Qalandars Squad for PSL 9: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Haris Rauf, David Wiese, Sikandar Raza, Abdullah Shafique, Zaman Khan, Mirza Tahir Baig, Rashid Khan (reserved), Fakhar Zaman, Rassie van der Dussen, Sahibzada Farhan, Muhammad Imran Jnr., Ahsan Hafeez Bhatti, Dan Lawrence (partially available), Jahandad Khan, Syed Faridoun Mahmood, Shai Hope, Kamran Ghulam, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Tayyab Abbas