Pakistan registered a five-wicket victory over the Netherlands at the Perth Stadium. Their bowlers, like always’ delivered a top-drawer performance but their batters managed to reach the 91-run total in a sluggish fashion. After the game, Pakistani pacer Shaheen Afridi was in the news, not for his quality of bowling display but for his fitness.
Former India player and coach Ravi Shastri, while talking on the Star Sports broadcast, expressed that Afridi may not be a 100% fit and possibly hasn’t fully recovered from his injury, which made him miss a majority of the games ahead of the T20 World Cup. Shastri believes that the speedster seems like he is still hurt and that coupled with the high expectations could have an ill effect on his health.
He said, "One thing is clear to me, that he is hurting. In the sense of hurting, I mean physically. I don't think he is fully fit. He has been brought back a little too early. So the expectations are a little bit too much on him. This is a World Cup. So the pressure is on him; he wants to play. The country wants him to play, and selectors want him to play."
Shastri then stated that Shaheen Afridi could possibly take a long break after the World Cup to possibly complete his recovery from the recent injury. He said, "But he is gonna take it slowly. He is gonna get into the rhythm as the tournament progresses. I see him taking a big break after the tournament."
Talking about the game, Afridi took the important wicket of Netherlands top-order star Stephan Myburgh on Sunday to open his T20 World Cup 2022 wicket tally. Afridi gave 19 runs in four overs and took one wicket for Pakistan. The other Pakistani fast bowlers who wreaked havoc against the Dutch were Naseem Shah, Mohammad Wasim Jr and Haris Rauf. This trio combined to pick four wickets while giving away 36 runs in their 12 overs.
