Saud Shakeel: “I’m really happy for Asif bhai. His debut came quite late, but it’s well-deserved. I’ve faced him several times in domestic cricket and always found him difficult to handle”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan middle order batsman Saud Shakeel has revealed that he always found it difficult to play against spinner Asif Afridi.
Shakeel’s comments come after Afridi made his Test debut in the recent two-Test series against South Africa, which ended as a 1-1 draw.
The 38-year-old played his first match for Pakistan in the 2nd Test and did exceptionally well, taking six wickets, all of which came in the first innings.
Even though Afridi had to wait a long time for his international debut, Shakeel insisted that the Peshawar native deserved it as he has been a force to be reckoned with in first-class cricket, where he has claimed 229 wickets in 63 matches at an average of 24.91.
“I’m really happy for Asif bhai. His debut came quite late, but it’s well-deserved. I’ve faced him several times in domestic cricket and always found him difficult to handle,” he was quoted as saying by A Sports.
After the two Tests, Pakistan beat South Africa 2-1 in both the T20Is and ODIs.
They then proceeded to whitewashed Sri Lanka 3-0 in an ODI series.
Currently, the men in green are involved in a T20I tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, and have made it to the final, where they will take on Sri Lanka on November 29.
Pakistan squad for Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe T20I Tri-Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan (wicketkeeper), Usman Tariq
Reserves: Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem