Men’s ODI WC: ‘What if he’s carrying any niggle or anything?’, Waqar Younis on Shaheen Afridi’s poor outing

New Delhi:  Former Pakistan pacer Waqar Younis pointed out Shaheen Afridi’s poor outing in two matches of the 2023 ODI World Cup and said that the team needed to work out what was wrong with pacer while highlighting the fact that Pakistan’s success hinges on Shaheen’s ability to consistently grab early wickets.

Pakistan pull off the biggest World Cup chase in the match against Sri Lanka, thanks to the brilliant centuries by Mohammad Rizwan (131) and Abdullah Shafique (113), to win their second straight game in the ODI World Cup 2023 on Tuesday.

Pakistan’s bowlers struggled, allowing Sri Lanka to score 344 runs in 50 overs. Centuries by Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama set a formidable target, making it seem like a winning score.

Afridi was the expensive bowler of the day for Pakistan, conceding 66 runs in 9 overs and managing to secure just one wicket. This marked Shaheen’s second disappointing performance in 2 matches at the ODI World Cup, where he has struggled to make the intended impact.

“Pakistan’s success has come when Shaheen really picks up early wickets and over the years, he’s done it many times and, uh, and he’s got capacity, capability, but at the moment he’s trying too hard. He’s just falling all over the place, you know, bowling on the pads, outside the off stump he’s tried around the wicket over the wicket, nothing really worked for him, and I’m sure he will even sit back with Morne Morkel,” Waqar Younis said while speaking on Star Sports after Pakistan’s win over Sri Lanka.

The former pacer speculated that Shaheen might have been dealing with a niggle, reminiscent of his situation during the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.

“And they’ll probably work out what is going wrong. I think there might be, uh, some action problem. What if he’s carrying any niggle or anything?”

“If he can fix this issue and with that left arm ball coming in, you know, early doors, You know, against India, we’ll be needing his services at the most because he has done it, uh, against India a few matches previously.

“So he’s an important member of the team, and I’m gonna just chip in for Shadab as well, not really finding the rhythm, not really finding the area where he needs to bowl. So he’s also gonna sit down and chat about it,” Younis added.

Pakistan will next play India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14.

–IANS