Shahid Afridi has come out in defense of pacer Shaheen Afridi after former speedster Shoaib Akhtar had slammed the left-armer for not pushing himself in the T20 World Cup 2022 final and bowling his full quota of overs.
Shaheen, who was playing with a knee issue, reinjured his knee during the final of the tournament against England, which Pakistan lost. He had bowled two overs and despite leaving the field for some time for treatment after reinjuring his knee, he tried to come back to bowl his third over, but couldn’t run properly.
Akhtar, however, insisted if he were in Shaheen's place, he'd have braved the pain and bowled out his quota, and would've even taken injections after every delivery if need be. Shoaib Akhtar revealed that he played his entire career by taking injections to his knee and said that Shaheen should’ve done the same for his country.
This statement of his has drawn mixed reactions and now Shaheen’s father-in-law and former captain Shahid Afridi has shared his thoughts as well.
“Shoaib Akhtar took so many injections that he can't walk now! See, this is Shoaib Akhtar's class. He can do that. It's difficult, though. Everyone can't be Shoaib Akhtar. It's difficult to play with injury if you take injections and pain-killers. Because then, you risk aggravating the injury further. Anyway, let's leave Shoaib Akhtar alone!” said Afridi on Samaa TV.
Shaheen missed the home Test series against England and New Zealand, as well as the limited-overs series against the Kiwis as a result. He recently made his return to cricket with PSL 2023, where he leads the Lahore Qalandars.
