Wasim Akram and Waqar unhappy with Afridi Resting: Pakistan’s bowling legends Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis have expressed their displeasure at Shaheen Afridi resting from the third Test against Australia, which kicked off on Wednesday in Sydney.
After losing the first two Tests and thus the series, Pakistan decided to rest their spearhead bowler, Shaheen Afridi, from the third Test to manage his workload. Shaheen had bowled 99.2 overs in the first two Tests, which is almost 30 overs more than the second-most busy bowler in those two Tests, Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon.
With Shaheen Afridi being the new T20I skipper, and a five-T20I series against New Zealand starting January 12, Pakistan thought it would be best to keep him fit and fresh.
Wasim Akram and Waqar unhappy with Afridi Resting
Former captains Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis are not on board with this thought process. Both laid down scathing criticism of Shaheen for choosing T20 cricket over Test cricket. Akram urged Shaheen to use “a little more sense” to strike a balance between making money in T20 cricket and playing Tests for his country.
Akram said on Fox Cricket:
“Straight after this there are five T20s in New Zealand, and Shaheen’s the captain. But T20 cricket, who cares? I understand, it’s there for entertainment and it’s there for financial gain for cricket boards, for players, but cricketers should know that Test cricket is the ultimate.
“If we talk about what happened 20 years ago in this Test in Sydney, nobody knows what happened last night in T20. That’s the difference. These guys have to understand and learn, if you want to be a great of the game or do you want to be a millionaire. You can become both but with a little more sense.”
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Waqar expressed shock, adding that it “made me laugh”.
“That’s a real shocker for me because I was expecting him to be a part of this Test match because he looked good in the previous match. He started feeling like the old Shaheen Afridi and started to swing the ball and the pace was getting better.”
In spite of losing months of cricket in 2021 and 2022 due to injuries, Shaheen Afridi has been among the busiest bowlers in the world. Only 8 fast bowlers have bowled more deliveries in international cricket than Shaheen since July 2022.
Fast bowler Haris Rauf had already opted out of the Test series against Australia for workload reasons but is currently playing in the BBL.
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