Shaheen Shah Afridi: “Khawaja Nafay played well. I liked that he came in and played such shots. He is brave and played very well. He has a bright future for Pakistan”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan T20I captain Shaheen Shah Afridi believes rising star Khawaja Nafay has a “bright future” in international cricket and admitted to being impressed with the way the 22-year-old is not scared to play his shots.
Nafay has become one of the most talked about players in the ongoing 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL) as he has produced a number of strong performances for the Quetta Gladiators.
His most notable innings came against the Lahore Qalandars, who Afridi captains, as he smashed an unbeaten 60 off 31 balls, which included four boundaries and three sixes.
Thanks to his stellar batting, the Gladiators not only claimed a five-wicket win, but Nafay gained the attention and respect of Afridi.
“Khawaja Nafay played well. I liked that he came in and played such shots. He is brave and played very well. He has a bright future for Pakistan,” he was quoted as saying by respected journalist Saj Sadiq on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Overall, Nafay has scored 161 runs in eight matches at an average of 26.83 and a strike-rate of 127.77.
Afridi, meanwhile, has taken 14 wickets in nine games at an average of 22.14 and an economy rate of 8.61.
Quetta Gladiators Squad for PSL 9: Rilee Rossouw (captain), Sarfaraz Ahmed, Sherfane Rutherford, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Wasim, Jason Roy, Wanindu Hasaranga, Mohammad Hasnain, Abrar Ahmed, Will Smeed, Saud Shakeel, Sajjad Ali, Usman Qadir, Omair Bin Yousuf, Adil Naz, Khawaja Nafay, Akeal Hosein, Sohail Khan, Laurie Evans, Bismillah Khan
Lahore Qalandars Squad for PSL 9: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Rassie van der Dussen, Haris Rauf, David Wiese, Sahibzada Farhan, Sikandar Raza, Abdullah Shafique, Zaman Khan, Mirza Tahir Baig, Mohammad Imran, Ahsan Hafeez, Dan Lawrence, Jahandad Khan, Syed Faridoun, Shai Hope, Kamran Ghulam, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Tayyab Abbas