Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi: “I’m fit now. I bowled too much in the two Tests and the fatigue was immense. If we had the opportunity to win the series, I believe I would have played, because I love Test cricket and it is my priority”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi said he “bowled too much” in the first two Tests against Australia, which was why he missed the third Test in Sydney.
Afridi bowled a total of 99.2 overs in the two Tests he played and blamed his absence from the third match on being heavily fatigued.
The 23-year-old noted that if Pakistan had not been 2-0 down going into the third Test, he would have featured in the match.
“I’m fit now. I bowled too much in the two Tests and the fatigue was immense. If we had the opportunity to win the series, I believe I would have played, because I love Test cricket and it is my priority,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
Afridi took eight wickets at an average of 41.62 in the Test series against Australia and then proceeded to claim nine wickets at an average of 19.22 and an economy rate of 8.94 in five T20Is against New Zealand.
Next up for him will be the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he will captain the Lahore Qalandars.
PSL 9 will be held 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