Pakistan star pacer Shaheen Afridi has dismissed coach Gary Kirsten’s claims that the bowler is being ‘overworked.’ Kirsten had recently voiced his concern over the workload of the team’s fast bowlers. He claimed that stars like Shaheen and Naseem Shah were always under pressure to spearhead the team to victory. Over a week later, Shaheen shared his opinion on the statement during an interview with Samaa TV. “I don’t know why we have made such a big deal about it for the past year. It all depends on the individual player,” he said.
Shaheen Afridi added that the bowlers wouldn’t be able to perform if they were ‘lazy.’
“You need to be mentally fit and strong to perform; you cannot perform while being lazy. At a time when your body is not reacting the way you want, you need support from the management. There is not much workload but we should enjoy whatever cricket we play,” he said.
Recalling Pakistan’s history of producing fast bowling icons, Afridi emphasised how the previous generation of pacers didn’t have ‘workload issues.’
“If we look at our legendary bowlers from the past, Wasim [Akram] bhai and Waqar [Younis] bhai, they did not have workload issues back then,” Shaheen concluded.
Gary Kirsten raised a warning about the workload of Pakistan’s pacers while doing commentary in the Champions Cup match between the Panthers and Lions last week
“Fast bowlers are always under immense pressure to deliver and win games. When we look at our key resources, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah have carried the bulk of the workload for Pakistan across all formats,” he said.
Shaheen also competed in the Champions Cup match, representing the Lions. Ponting to the fast bowler, Kirsten shared a statistic and said, “I saw a stat the other day that Shaheen has bowled three times more overs than any other fast bowler in the world over the last 18 months. That’s alarming – you are bound to wear him down eventually,” he concluded.
Shaheen Afridi is set to return to action with the opening Test against England. The pacer has struggled to find his form across formats and will hope to get back on track against England. Pakistan will face England in the first Test of the series starting on October 8 in Multan.
Comments
0 comment