Ahmed Shehzad: “So, you’ve dropped Shaheen and brought in your own group. What did you achieve by dropping Shaheen? Managing workload, right? You’re just fooling the public in the name of workload management”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan batsman Ahmed Shehzad believes the selectors are fooling the public by saying left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi was dropped for the two-Test series against South Africa due to “workload management”.
Afridi was removed from the Test squad midway through the three-Test series against England in October 2024 as well.
Many people speculated it was due to his inability to take wickets consistently.
However, Shehzad pointed out that the 24-year-old was Pakistan’s pace spearhead in all three formats not so long ago and thus questioned why the selectors are sidelining him when he has proven to be an extremely useful asset in the past.
“So, you’ve dropped Shaheen and brought in your own group. What did you achieve by dropping Shaheen? Managing workload, right? You’re just fooling the public in the name of workload management,” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Afridi recently featured in Pakistan’s limited overs series against Australia and took eight wickets in three ODIs at an average of 12.62.
He didn’t have the same level of success in the T20Is as he finished with one wicket in three games at an average of 107.
Pakistan travelled to Zimbabwe after this, but Afridi was rested for both the ODI and T20I series.
He returned for the ongoing tour of South Africa and began by taking three wickets in two T20Is at an average of 19.66.
As for the ODIs that followed, he snapped up seven wickets in three matches at an average of 23.28.
The two-Test series between Pakistan and South Africa will get underway on December 26 in Centurion.
Pakistan Squad for South Africa T20I Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair Bin Yousuf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)
Pakistan Squad for South Africa ODI Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)
Pakistan Squad for South Africa Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha