Jason Gillespie: “Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah are multi-format cricketers and also participate in franchise cricket. They cannot play every match. We will try to give them rest in relatively less important matches”

Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani

Pakistan red-ball head coach Jason Gillespie has made it clear that the pace duo of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah “cannot play every match” as they are “multi-format cricketers” and need their workload managed properly.

Afridi and Naseem have both spent long periods on the sidelines with injuries in the past, which raised questions about whether they were being overworked.

However, Gillespie aims to stop this from happening again as he confirmed the two fast bowlers could be rested for “relatively less important matches”.

“Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah are multi-format cricketers and also participate in franchise cricket. They cannot play every match. We will try to give them rest in relatively less important matches,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.

Afridi and Naseem both played in the 2024 T20 World Cup, with the former taking five wickets in four matches at an average of 21 and an economy rate of 6.56.

As for Naseem, he finished with five wickets in three games at an average of 14.20 and an economy rate of 5.91.

Pakistan lost to the United States of America and India before fighting back to beat Canada and Ireland.

Even though they won their last two group stage matches, the men in green still failed to make it through to the Super Eights.

Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed

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