Shaheen Afridi unveils a new skill with the bat in late fireworks for the second straight game from the lower-order
The arrival of Shaheen Afridi, lower-order basher.
The ability to bat was always possessed by Shaheen Afridi. They only made fleeting appearances until lately, such as at the PSL 2023 final.
When Sikandar Raza was removed in the fifteenth over that evening in Lahore, Afridi wasn’t even padded up. At No. 7, however, he managed to beat David Wiese to the crease and prevent him from clearing the boundary rope, unleashing one of the most thrilling death-over assaults in recent memory.
In one of the greatest T20 finals ever, Lahore Qalandars pulled off a thrilling one-run victory, with each of his 44 runs off just 15 balls being vital.
The stakes were equally high at the Asia Cup on Wednesday. India thrashed Pakistan by seven wickets on Sunday, putting them in the knockout zone. Afridi himself helped to turn around a stuttering innings and gave the bowlers something to defend with a T20I best of an undefeated 16-ball 33. However, in the midst of India’s clinical pursuit and the ensuing frenzy of handshakes that weren’t real, the knock hardly received its due.
If Afridi’s knock on Sunday was an indication of his potential, Wednesday’s match against the UAE served as a reminder of his ability to bat under duress. With everything going on surrounding the club, it’s impossible to predict the impact a defeat to an underdog could have had. And that threat was real at 110 for 7, with 19 balls remaining in the innings.
When Abhishek Sharma took all two deliveries against him to declare himself, Afridi witnessed firsthand the impact that a poor target to defend in the face of dew can have on bowlers. Even though Alishan Sharafu and Muhammad Waseem, the openers for the United Arab Emirates, aren’t Abhishek, it only takes one inning to instill confidence in a knockout match.
Afridi was probably just responding to what was thrown at him and wasn’t particularly considering a score. In the end, he biffed 29 off 14 balls, much of which was constructed in a telling 20th over, as he transformed into Shahid, the other Afridi. Pakistan appeared to finish at 125, but two sixes and a four in an 18-run over helped them reach 146.
The second six was a display of wrist-work skill as he flicked the ball up and over deep-backward square-leg, whilst the first six was all about backing away and swinging neatly to a yorker that went astray.
Afridi had batted 30 times in T20Is before to the Asia Cup, scoring a respectable 188 runs. He has already reached 250 runs in 32 innings two games into the competition.
The PSL laid the groundwork for his newly discovered batting vigour. Afridi struck just two sixes, with a maximum of 12, between PSL 2018 and the end of PSL 2022. He has blasted 24 sixes in the last three editions, which is more evidence of his improving hitting skills.
It seems odd to discuss Afridi without mentioning his bowling influence or the late banana inswing that brought Wasim Akram back to his prime. Even though he got rid of Waseem with some of that late tail, albeit off an inside edge, his batting has been the main factor keeping Pakistan in the Asia Cup.
Even while the new size gives a fragile batting lineup a lot of depth, Pakistan will be wise to make sure Afridi doesn’t wind up carrying more than he can handle under the mounting pressure that will now always be with him at the wicket.