Ramiz Raja believes that Shaheen Afridi needs to develop more variations into his bowling.© AFP
Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja voiced concerns over Shaheen Shah Afridi’s bowling especially when the ball doesn’t swing. With the sun shining down at Edgbaston, Pakistan succumbed to a 23-run defeat in the second T20I against England. While Pakistan’s batting set-up lacked firepower during the chase, their bowlers also produced underwhelming spells in the first innings. Star pacer Shaheen Afridi stood out with three wickets in his four-over spell but struggled to make his mark in the early phase of the game.
While pinpointing Shaheen’s struggle, Ramiz believes that the pacer needs to develop more variations to become more effective in the format.
“Shaheen Shah Afridi’s bowling. Look, if the ball isn’t swinging and he bowls at full length, then he gets bashed. He needs to develop length ball and change of pace especially when he is not getting much from the pitch. Even today, he didn’t bowl perfectly with the new ball and [England] escaped pressure,” Ramiz said on his YouTube channel.
With the pitch hardly offering any swing in the opening phase of the game, Shaheen struggled to cause trouble to England’s opening pair in the powerplay.
He picked up most of his wickets in the middle and death overs when England were trying to accelerate their innings to reach a competitive total.
In his four-over spell, Shaheen removed Jonny Bairstow (21), Moeen Ali (4) and Chris Jordan (3). He ended up giving away 36 runs out of which he conceded 21 runs in his two overs of the powerplay.
Jos Buttler’s 84-run blitz off 51 deliveries helped England post 183/7 on the board. In reply, it was a collective effort from Pakistan batters to help their team get across the line. However, none of them stayed on the pitch long enough to see off the game for the visitors.
Most of them lost their wicket while attempting to clear the boundary rope during the chase of 184. England bowlers played their cards at the right time to clinch a 23-run win.
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