Pakistan’s star pacer Shaheen Afridi on Monday broke his silence after he was dropped from the squad against England for 2nd and third test match which will be played in Multan and Rawalpindi on 15 and 24 October, respectively..
Shaheen who has been in the headlines for his performance over the last few months was dropped from the team along with the batting maestro Babar Azam, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Naseem Shah.
The Pakistan cricket selectors announced the squad after taking the current form and fitness of key players and looking ahead to Pakistan’s future assignments in the 2024-25 international cricket season into consideration.
Reacting to the development, Afridi said in a short tweet “Wishing Team Pakistan the best of luck! Rooting for a strong comeback. We’re all cheering for you.”
Earlier, Shaheen also addressed the debate around the workload management of the fast bowlers in modern-day cricket.
The left-arm pacer cited the examples of legendary fast bowlers such as Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis’s playing days when asked about his workload.
READ: Shaheen Afridi addresses workload management issue
“First of all, if you are saying that I have bowled the most in the world (among bowlers in Test cricket)… but if you look in the past, all our legends bowlers Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, at that time there was no workload issue.”
“I don’t know why we have made it a big topic over the last one year that there is workload, players are getting injured. We are considering it more important. It depends individually on the players, how they play in particular formats. You need to be mentally fit and strong on how to react in different circumstances,” Shaheen Afridi added.
It is important to note here that Pakistan faced a crushing defeat in the first Test in Multan.
Squad (for 2nd and 3rd Tests):
Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Haseebullah (wicket-keeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha and Zahid Mehmood.