Sarfraz Nawaz: “Since he had an injury some time ago, he has not been the same bowler. His pace has dropped, and his line and length are not the same”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan seamer Sarfraz Nawaz is disappointed that left-arm speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi’s “pace has dropped”.
Afridi’s bowling speed has been a major talking point since he suffered back-to-back knee injuries in 2022 as many former cricketers have noticed he is not bowling as quick as he used to.
Recently, the 25-year-old was back bowling at around 140 kph, but in addition to spotting a decrease in his overall pace, Sarfraz added that Afridi is not hitting the same line and length he was when he got plenty of wickets.
“Since he had an injury some time ago, he has not been the same bowler. His pace has dropped, and his line and length are not the same,” he told Cricbuzz.
Afridi recently featured in the 2025 Champions Trophy and took two wickets in two games at an average of 71.
He then took part in Pakistan’s limited overs tour of New Zealand and finished with two wickets in four T20Is at an average of 66.50.
As for the three-match ODI series, he wasn’t included in the squad.
Pakistan lost the T20I series 4-1 before being whitewashed 3-0 in the ODIs.
After a lacklustre performance against New Zealand, Afridi returned with a bang in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) as he captained 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.
Following PSL 10, Pakistan took on Bangladesh in a three-match T20I series, but Afridi was not selected in the squad.
The men in green won the series 3-0.
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