Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has come down hard on his future son-in-law pacer Shaheen Afridi for his poor performance in the all-important T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final against Australia on Thursday.
With 20 runs required off the last two overs, Babar Azam threw the ball to Shaheen for the 19th over and many expected him to not give more than 10 runs. However, a red-hot Matthew Wade slammed him for three consecutive sixes to win the match for Australia, sending them into the finals.
Wade had also gotten a life when Hassan Ali dropped his catch in midwicket in the same over. Wade and Stoinis added more than 80 runs for the sixth wicket as Australia romped home with an over to spare while needing more than 60 runs in the last five overs.
“I am not happy with Shaheen in one area. Okay so Hasan Ali dropped a catch but that does not mean you will bowl badly and get hit for three successive sixes,” Shahid Afridi said on the Samaa TV channel.
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“Shaheen has so much pace and he should have used it sensibly. Even if the catch was dropped. He should have used his head and tried to bowl outside off stump fast Yorkers with his pace. He is not that sort of bowler to be hit like that," said the former Pakistan captain, whose eldest daughter Aqsa is engaged to Shaheen Afridi.
Afridi also said that his debacle should be a lesson for the young left-arm pacer whose three wickets in Pakistan’s opening match of the tournament against India, helped the Men in Green win their first match against the Men in Blue in a World Cup tournament.
“I would say he was brilliant in the tournament and I have only seen either Wasim bhai (Akram) or perhaps Muhammad Amir bowl like this with the new ball. He is giving good performances. I hope he learns from this cricket experience and prepares himself for the future,” Afridi said.
(PTI inputs)
