Shaheen picked 4/35 against India in Kandy.
This was the first ODI match between the two arch-rivals since the 2019 World Cup and India captain Rohit Sharma had chosen to bat first after winning the toss. India lost early wickets and it was only thanks to Ishan Kishan (82) and Hardik Pandya (87) that the Men in Blue posted 266 runs in 48.5 overs.
Shaheen Afridi was the man for Pakistan as he picked 4/35 which included wickets of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma inside the powerplay overs for single-digit scores, and both ace batters were bowled by Afridi.
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra lauded the pacer and said that Shaheen was the player of the match for him before the game was abandoned due to rain.
"We need to first talk about the Player of the Match even if it did not end up as a proper game. There are a lot of contenders. Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya played 80-odd run knocks, which took India to a position from where they could have fought. But my Player of the Match is Shaheen Shah Afridi," Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Chopra said that Shaheen has been living rent-free in the minds of the India batters. He generated swing early on and when the skies opened up a bit, shortened his length a bit to take wickets of the two best Indian batters.
"He opens you up at the start. The guy has class and swings the ball at a good pace. At the moment, it seems like he is staying rent-free in our minds because when he starts his run-up, I don't know what the batters think, but we feel that he will hit the pads or dismiss the batter," Chopra concluded.
Pakistan qualified for the Super 4s, while India will face Nepal on Monday in Kandy and a win here will help Rohit Sharma and co to go to the next stage as well.