Manjrekar’s stern words for Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi saying that both bowlers have seen better days before.
Manjrekar’s stern words have found new targets in the form of Pakistan pacers Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi.
In ODIs and T20Is, Pakistan has played with all three of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf in the starting lineup, although they have only won 14 of the 28 games. Perhaps this is because, in the words of Sanjay Manjrekar, some of the quicks “have seen better days,” despite the fact that Pakistan’s coach Aaqib Javed claims the three remind him of “the ’90s troika.”
Two of Pakistan’s four defeats in One-Day Internationals (ODIs) involving all three of Afridi, Naseem, and Rauf have occurred in multi-team competitions: New Zealand in the Champions Trophy 2025 opening and India at the Asia Cup 2023. Pakistan lost both of those games by bowling first and giving up scores of 300 or more.
“It was a kind of revelation for us in Sri Lanka when we had an encounter with Pakistan in the Asia Cup before the 2023 World Cup. We saw Shaheen Shah Afridi live up to expectations in the first game, which was rain affected, but as the tournament went on, we also got to see that Shaheen Shah Afridi wasn’t the same bowler that he was before. The speed in the air had completely disappeared,” Manjrekar said on ESPNcricinfo Match Day. “
“So, all the trickery that he had was not the same without the speed in the air. Haris Rauf had the pace but was not quite able to lead [the attack] like [Jasprit] Bumrah does with his fast bowling. Naseem Shah has emerged as the best bowler on form. Yes, fast bowling is their main strength. There is almost nothing in the spin department. But even in the fast bowling, Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi have seen better days.”
Aaqib, though, expressed confidence in the trio and said they reminded him of the Pakistan attack from the 1990s.
“Teams play their game on their own strength,” he said ahead of the match against India in Dubai. “We have three one of the best pace-bowling options in today’s game with Shaheen, Naseem and Haris. It reminds me of the ’90s troika [Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and himself]. They have time to reach that level but have all the ability to repeat those performances.”