Mohammad Amir: “Shaheen is back from injury, and we will have to give him some time. We have observed pace in his bowling in this PSL. His rhythm will come from bowling long spells and not just four overs”

Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani

Mohammad Amir said he has “observed pace” when fellow Pakistan left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi was bowling in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Coming into PSL 9, Afridi, who is Pakistan’s T20I captain, was in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons as questions raged about why his bowling speed had dropped so much.

Choosing to defend the 23-year-old, Amir pointed out that Afridi suffered back-to-back knee injuries in 2022 and only returned to international cricket in July 2023. As a result, he urged people to give the pace spearhead some time to regain his form and rhythm, which will subsequently enable him to increase his pace.

“Shaheen is back from injury, and we will have to give him some time. We have observed pace in his bowling in this PSL. His rhythm will come from bowling long spells and not just four overs,” Amir told Geo News.

Afridi recently captained the Lahore Qalandars in PSL 9 and took 14 wickets in nine matches at an average of 22.14 and an economy rate of 8.61.

Despite this, his side ended up finishing last on the points table with only one win from 10 games.

As for Amir, he played for the Quetta Gladiators and snapped up 10 wickets in nine matches at an average of 28.60 and an economy rate of 8.41.

The Gladiators managed to make it to the playoffs, but lost to eventual champions Islamabad United in Eliminator 1.

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

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

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