Fans and professionals alike have been talking about Shaheen Afridi nonstop since he’s been so busy in the Pakistan Super League. Although the southpaw scored 55 runs off 34 balls for Lahore Qalandars against Quetta Gladiators, his choice to go up the order hasn’t gone down well with certain previous cricketers. Even the great Inzamam-ul-Haq gave the southpaw a terrible assessment. Even though Afridi and Abdullah Shafique shared a 91-run partnership for the fourth wicket, his team ultimately lost the game.
Abdullah Shafique and Shaheen Afridi’s partnership seemed to be quite successful based on the scorecard, with one player getting 55 off 34 balls and the other scoring 59 off 39 balls. That being said, the scorecard does it no justice. They played every over, or about 14 overs, and the highest score that could be reached was 167, when it should have been 200 or higher. Does anyone think Lahore can win from this point on? On Suno News, an irate Inzamam questioned, “Or will Lahore defend it?”
Inzamam believes the two should have scored runs far more quickly because Abdullah has been in the middle since the powerplay and Shaheen since the tenth over. The former captain of Pakistan believes that 166 runs cannot be justified for the loss of merely 4 wickets.
If T20 specialists like Sikandar Raza and David Wiese had taken as many deliveries as Shaheen and Shafique did, according to Inzamam, the score would have been far higher.
“Shaheen bats at number five, but the squad cannot afford to score runs at that rate. The score may have been higher if specialists like Sikandar Raza and David Wiese had faced 34 balls. Abdullah Shafique was another person he ought to have put pressure on by asking, “Bhai, tu tez khel (boss, score faster).” It is unacceptable for a batter to score 60 runs while playing every over of the game. One very important fact needs to be attended to. The cause of the team will be completely undermined if you start making individual efforts, claimed Inzamam.
