IF I DIDN’T GET INJURED, MAYBE WE COULD’VE WON THE WORLD CUP

SHAHEEN SHAH’S LATEST INTERVIEW:

Pakistan’s premium left-arm pacer, Shaheen Shah Afridi in his latest interview with Cricinfo, recalls his memory when he was injured last year during the FINAL of the 2022 T20 World Cup and Pakistan ended up losing the game in a low-scoring thriller against England.

Pakistan was defending a low total in the 2022 World Cup Final when Shaheen Shah Afridi was fielding at long-off and he took a catch to dismiss Harry Brooks, the moment when Shaheen Shah Afridi hurt himself again on the same knee where he was having issues previously as well and as a result, he wasn’t able to bowl in the match again, he was out from international cricket for a long time as well.

Shaheen Shah Afridi was involved in last both tragedies that happened with Pakistan in the T20 World Cups, he was the one who conceded three sixes from Mathew Wade during the 2021 T20 World Cup Semi-Final when Hassan Ali dropped a catch in that same over, now again the World Cup didn’t end well for the left-arm pacer and he says that he is very gutted that he couldn’t win the World Cup even he had two chances.

‘’ Obviously, it’s a dream of every player to win the World Cup for his country and I still remember 2021, how that ended, and again in 2022, if I didn’t get injured at that crucial moment of the game maybe we could’ve won ‘’, Shaheen Shah Afridi on not winning the World Cup for his country.

Pakistan’s pace spearhead, Shaheen Shah Afridi also spoke about his bowling form and his fitness after he made his comeback for the Pakistan team this year after the Pakistan Super League 2023, he says as long as he is taking wickets he doesn’t thinks about anything wrong with his bowling.

‘’ Everyone has a view about my pace but I have been feeling good, even if you are bowling 110kmph and taking wickets for your team, this is what matters more. Speed doesn’t matter much as long as there has been a dip in the form ‘’, he further added.

Shaheen Shah Afridi further aims that he will be back to his best once he will play cricket more regularly and he will get better when he will play international matches for Pakistan. He says that he will improve – the more he will play cricket, the more he will improve.

The left-arm pacer also talked about his love for batting, saying that he always used to like batting, and when he was injured he worked well on his batting abilities because he wasn’t allowed to bowl for a long time and this will help him to create an impact for my team lower down the order.

‘’ I always liked batting, right from the start of my career. When I got injured I started to work on my batting a lot more because I wasn’t bowling. I worked very hard in England on my batting and it looks like my batting has now improved ‘’, he said.

We have already seen the improvement in his batting during the Pakistan Super League when he promoted himself as a batter and scored a half-century for his team as well, the big performances of 44 runs from the bat of Shaheen Shah Afridi in the PSL 2023 Final for his team, and in the last ODI series against New Zealand he showed us that power again in the final over that tells us the whole story about his love for batting and the way he has adopted this role as well to win matches for his team.

Shaheen Shah Afridi accepted the role of Shahid Afridi in his batting as they practiced together, about how to score some big shots in the final overs, and the experience of Shahid Afridi in T20 cricket we all know is unmatched but he says that his priority is still to be a bowler.

‘’ Yeah there has been an impact from Lala (Shahid Afridi), he has worked on my bat swing a little, working with him was really good and I have learned a lot ‘’, he said.

‘’ My priority is still to be a bowler but I want to contribute with the bat as well for my team if not with the bat then in the field ‘’, he concluded.

Shaheen Shah Afridi has currently traveled to England for the Vitality Blast 2023 season and will be seen in action for Nottinghamshire. He says that he hopes to bowl in the right areas and to get wickets for his team, he is expecting a very good performance from him in the Vitality Blast.