The captain of the Pakistani squad, Babar Azam, has confessed that there are doubts over the fitness of the team’s primary bowler, Shaheen Afridi. He added that the reason the fast bowler is included in the squad for the next tour of the Netherlands is so that the team doctor and physiotherapist can track his development.
Due to a knee injury, Afridi was unable to play in the second test that Pakistan played against Sri Lanka in Galle a month ago. The young player was injured on the fourth day of the first test of the series.
Babar Azam has confirmed that Shaheen Afridi will only play against the Netherlands if he's fully fit, he's preparing for the Asia Cup.
'We don't play ODI cricket often and we want to play our best players. It's my first visit to the Netherlands, can't take them lightly'
— Farid Khan 🇵🇰🇹🇷 (@_FaridKhan) August 11, 2022
What did Babar Azam say about Shaheen Afridi?
Despite the fact that the bowler has not yet fully healed, he will be making the trip to the Netherlands with the ODI team. During a press conference held just before the departure, Babar provided an explanation for the choice as follows:
“There are questions over Shaheen’s physical condition. We are going to bring him along since both the team doctor and the team physiotherapist will be traveling with us, so he will have excellent medical care. We are approaching this problem with a focus on the far future. There is also the World Cup, in addition to the Asia Cup.”
– missing that shaheen afridi's aggression 🥺🔥 pic.twitter.com/daSjdNhKKq
— Zoha🇵🇰 (@ilovepct_) August 7, 2022
Regarding how soon Pakistan anticipates the left-arm fast bowler to be back in action, the captain of Pakistan’s team said:
“We are doing all in our power to make sure that he will be able to be ready as quickly as feasible. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he will be able to participate in at least one of the matches in the Netherlands. If not, then let’s keep our fingers crossed that he’ll be able to compete in the Asia Cup.”
Afridi is consistently one of the top performers for Pakistan throughout all three of their forms of the sport. In the team’s victory against Sri Lanka in the first test match, which took place in Galle, he took four wickets.
