Shane Bond: “You look at someone like Shaheen Shah Afridi, who’s sort of still searching for wickets, bowling [a] really full length, and at the moment he’s going for a lot of runs”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond said Pakistan left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi is “searching for wickets” and “going for a lot of runs” when bowling.
He attributed this to Afridi “bowling [a] really full length” consistently.
Bond noted that this is what separates Afridi from other speedsters like New Zealand’s Trent Boult, who knows how to vary his lengths in order to concede fewer runs.
“You look at someone like Shaheen Shah Afridi, who’s sort of still searching for wickets, bowling [a] really full length, and at the moment he’s going for a lot of runs. That’s the difference between perhaps someone like him and Trent Boult, who understands bringing the length back, thinking about having the ball actually hit to where he can protect,” he was quoted as saying on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Afridi was recently involved in Pakistan’s white-ball tour of New Zealand and took two wickets in four T20Is at an average of 66.50 and an economy rate of 10.23.
The 25-year-old fared a lot better in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) as he led the Lahore Qalandars to the title and finished as the highest wicket-taker with 19 wickets in 13 games at an average of 16.42 and an economy rate of 7.76.
Despite dominating with the ball in PSL 10, Afridi was not picked for Pakistan’s ongoing three-match T20I series against Bangladesh.
The men in green won the 1st T20I by 37 runs and will look to secure an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 2nd T20I on May 30 in Lahore.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper) and Saim Ayub
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