After a quiet Perth Test, Shaheen Afridi’s form with the ball was questioned. Yas Rana argues that the expectations around Afridi are unfair and unrealistic.
It’s October 2021 and Shaheen Afridi has the world at his feet. His new ball burst against India in Pakistan’s opening T20 World Cup fixture sets the tone for his country’s sole World Cup win over their arch-rivals in the last decade. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, two of India’s champion batters, are sent back to the dugout during a scintillating opening spell. The 21-year-old leans back, spreads his wings and takes in the adulation of a berserk Dubai crowd – a symbol that this new look Pakistan side are capable of upstaging India in an international game they effectively run.
Shaheen seems to have it all. He lunged forward and, with his perfectly cocked wrist, discovered a devastating new ball movement and released the ball from a great height. There are no obvious defects. He is clearly relishing this momentous occasion, and his list of attributes is so textbook that it seems almost custom-made. And he’s not just a secondment, he’s a promising Test player who will rise to number three in the ICC Test Bowling Rankings in a matter of weeks.
It is now December 2023 and Shaheen Afridi is under investigation. A mediocre World Cup was followed by a low-key opening test in Perth. Waqar Younis, one of Pakistan’s Mount Rushmore fans, warns that Shaheen risks becoming only a middling pacer if he is not careful.
So what happened? The prevailing theory is that Shaheen has not yet fully recovered from the two knee injuries that kept him out of action for long periods last year. His first injury occurred during preparations for the T20 World Cup, and his second injury derailed his defense in the final and kept him off the field for the next three months. The PCB’s handling of his recovery was criticized and Afridi has not had it easy since then. Although he fell short of his best, he remains an important part of the Pakistan team in all three international formats. He also played 20 T20s for Nottinghamshire Outlaws and Wales Fire in the English summer. The combination of a busy schedule and a recent return from injury creates a very clear narrative. He returned as soon as possible after suffering an injury due to overwork. But is that correct?
The underlying numbers do not exactly suggest this. According to CricViz data, his average pace in 2022 and 2023 is about the same across all formats before and after this knee injury. This is slightly below his peak in 2021, when he averaged 138km/h in T20 and Test cricket. In 2023, his T20 average pace (excluding slow balls) dropped to his 136 km/h, and in Tests he dropped to 135 km/h.
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The truth is that Afridi was never a fast athlete. Although he is certainly capable of breaking the 140km/h barrier, he is certainly not in the category of the fastest bowlers in the sport. Afridi’s other fundamental numbers also remain unchanged. His current length, average seam, and average swing are more or less in line with what he achieved before his knee injury.
Firstly, it is worth recognizing not only what Afridi has already achieved in his career, but also the extraordinary expectations that rest on his broad shoulders. Waqar and Kagiso Rabada are the only two pace bowlers in the history of the game to have taken more international wickets than Afridi’s 275 by his 24th birthday, and he has already taken Pakistan’s international wickets. He is ranked 13th on the all-time list. His influence on Pakistan cricket is already far reaching.
He has been Pakistan’s de facto attacking leader from an incredibly young age, and while Pakistan’s bowling stock has required him to take on a variety of roles, especially in Test cricket, he has generally played alongside each other. Although contradictory, they have also played the following roles: Containers and battering rams. His own development was usually secondary to his team’s immediate needs.
Afridi is overlaid with stories that match the scale of the moments he occasionally creates, and there may be a gap between expectations and reality. But even in 2021, he was not the all-format world champion he was often portrayed as. For example, in the T20 World Cup itself, he lost to Matthew Wade for six off three consecutive balls, which resulted in Pakistan’s semi-final exit. His Test figures that year (17 wickets for 47) were exceptional, but beneath the surface they were very one-sided. He averaged 13 runs in six Tests against West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. In three Tests against South Africa and New Zealand, he averaged 33 runs.
His overall testing numbers are similar. Afridi is deadly against lower-ranked teams, but there is room for improvement against higher-ranked teams. Against Australia, England and New Zealand they averaged over 40 possessions.
That doesn’t mean he wasn’t an exceptional bowler for Pakistan. He remains one of the top T20 quicks and, at 23, has already hit 50 overs twice in the World Cup. In Test cricket, there is no doubt that he is one of Pakistan’s most dangerous seamers along with Naseem, but it is a shame that the pair only played 14 Tests together in four years. . There are very few truly top-notch seamstresses in all three formats, Jasprit Bumrah being perhaps the only one, so there is no sin in missing the mark.
As Ravi Shastri pointed out during the World Cup, Afridi is not yet Wasim Akram and probably never will be. Athletes don’t develop in a straight line. It is not uncommon for players who enter the scene at a young age, especially those with unusually advanced physical attributes, to plateau earlier than others. If this is the case with Shaheen, he remains a must-have player for Pakistan in all three formats, one of the most threatening new ball bowlers in the world, and creates great moments, as he did in Dubai two years ago. He has more than enough abilities. . The high expectations surrounding him are unfair and, more than anything, speak to the flaws in Pakistan’s sea bowling talent development.
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