Former Australia opener and Pakistan batting coach, Matthew Hayden has opined that Indian batters will have to be careful against Shaheen Afridi when the two sides clash in Asia Cup 2023 on September 2nd in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
The juicy encounter will pit the Indian batting lineup of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, and others against Pakistan’s pace unit of Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, and Naseem Shah.
The former Australian opener Mathew Hayden even went as far as to say, “India is playing against Pakistan’s pace trio” during an interaction.
Hayden also spoke about the conditions and pitch in Pallekele stadium, saying that the pitch here has helped seamers in the past and does tend to bounce a little more than other surfaces in Sri Lanka.
“Well, I can tell you this is one of the spiciest competitions on the planet. We’ve got Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Naseem. Three very different types of bowlers and unique bowlers require unique plans from Team India.
Firstly, the conditions here in Kandy tend to have quite a lot of bounce, so you’ve got to watch that out, especially Haris Rauf. He’ll want to hustle in and hit the top of off stump,” Hayden said on Star Sports.
In the last few encounters between these two sides, Shaheen versus the Indian openers has become the primary narrative. The left-arm seamer’s ability to move the new ball both ways has caused a lot of trouble.
“You’ve got to be conservative against Shaheen Afridi. Remember back to the World Cup more recently; Shaheen was able to take early wickets. We’ll never forget that ball that he bowled to Captain Rohit Sharma,” recalled Hayden.
Hayden also provided a solution on what India must do to deal with facing left-arm pace at the start of an innings.
“If it’s swinging, look to play out those first three overs,” he said.
(Star Sports inputs)
