Darren Gough: “Shaheen obviously we’ve seen him, he’s had a little bit of a rough patch of late but what a cricketer. He can hit it long, especially in white-ball, and his bowling is quality as we saw in Australia again in the ODIs, he bowled quality over there”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former England pace bowler Darren Gough said Pakistan left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi’s “bowling is quality”.
Gough acknowledged that Afridi is going through a “bit of a rough patch”, but is confident the 24-year-old will get back to his best soon.
He pointed out Afridi’s brilliant performance in the three-match ODI series against Australia, where the Pakistan speedster claimed eight wickets at an average of 12.62.
Things didn’t go as well in the T20I series as Afridi only managed to take one wicket in three games at an average of 107.
Following the Australia tour, Pakistan travelled to Zimbabwe, but Afridi was rested for both the ODI and T20I series.
He returned for the South Africa series and started by picking up three wickets in two T20Is at an average of 19.66.
As for the three ODIs, Afridi ended up with seven wickets at an average of 23.28.
“Shaheen obviously we’ve seen him, he’s had a little bit of a rough patch of late but what a cricketer. He can hit it long, especially in white-ball, and his bowling is quality as we saw in Australia again in the ODIs, he bowled quality over there,” Gough, who was recently appointed as head coach of the Lahore Qalandars, told PakPassion.
Afridi wasn’t picked for the two-Test series against South Africa, which Pakistan lost 2-0.
He also wasn’t selected for the ongoing two-Test series against the West Indies, which Pakistan lead 1-0 after winning the 1st Test in Multan by 127 runs.
The 2nd Test began on January 25 in Multan.
Pakistan Squad for West Indies Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Kashif Ali, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Noman Ali, Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha