Ian Bishop: “Then you’ve got Shaheen Afridi, the upcoming youngster, I thought he was baby Starc at his fittest. Just different”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former West Indies seamer Ian Bishop sees Pakistan left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi as the junior version of Australia pacer Mitchell Starc.
He noted that like Starc, Afridi is different from the rest and has shown incredible wicket-taking skills across all three formats.
The 25-year-old was recently overlooked for Pakistan’s three-match T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore and the T20I tour of Bangladesh.
However, he ended up making a comeback for the white-ball tour of the West Indies and kicked off his campaign with two wickets in two T20Is at an average of 29 and an economy rate of 7.25.
He followed it up with four wickets in two ODIs at an average of 21.50.
The men in green then took on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan in a T20I tri-series in Sharjah, which they won.
Afridi performed well in that competition as he picked up four wickets in four games at an average of 19.50 and an economy rate of 5.57.
“Then you’ve got Shaheen Afridi, the upcoming youngster, I thought he was baby Starc at his fittest. Just different,” Bishop was quoted as saying by Geo Super.
Pakistan are now playing in the 2025 Asia Cup, which is taking place in the UAE.
Pakistan squad for UAE T20I tri-series and 2025 Asia Cup: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem
[TS_Poll id=”132″]