The former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has revealed that he had asked the young Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi not to dive too much on the field as his skills with the ball are more precious to the Pakistani team than his fielding, but he then realised that Shaheen is also an “Afridi” and he wouldn’t shy away from diving even if he is asked not to dive.
The injury that has ruled Shaheen Afridi out of the Asia Cup has not been caused by excessive bowling, but it was actually caused by his diving effort on the boundary line during the first test match against Sri Lanka which resulted in him not playing the second test on the tour. The injury was, however, not considered serious enough at that stage to rule him out for a long time.
The Pakistan team management knew that Shaheen would have to be out for a couple of games, but they were expecting him to be fit for the Asia Cup and that’s why not only was he named in the Asia Cup squad of Pakistan, Shaheen was also taken to Netherlands with the Pakistan squad to make sure he could play a game in Netherlands if he felt good about his knee.
Shahid Afridi reacted to a question asked to him on twitter about the injury of Shaheen Afridi
But, the status of Shaheen’s injury didn’t change much in Netherlands either and eventually the medical team of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decided to take the fast bowler away from the game for a period up to 6 weeks so that he could recover completely for the T20 World Cup.
Shahid Afridi was interacting with his fans on twitter yesterday and when he got one of the questions related to Shaheen’s injury, he revealed that he had warned Shaheen in advance that diving could hurt him from a long term perspective, but he was never going to listen to him because he is also an “Afridi”.
Mene us ko pehle b mana Kia tha k dive mat maray, injury hosakti hai, ap fast bowler ho. Lekin bad me mene realise Kia k wo b Afridi hi hai 🤣
— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) August 21, 2022
