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Shaheen Shah Afridi's poor performances in the last few years cannot be ignored

Savak

Savak

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One of the biggest reasons why Lahore Qalandars have had such a pathetic season is because their captain has habitually capitulated in the death overs with his bowling. Shaheen has been surviving on pure reputation but has gone missing for Pakistan when they needed him the most.

Went missing against India, Afghanistan, New Zealand, England in the ODI WC. Rohit, Gill, Kohli, KL Rahul treated him like an ordinary medium pacer. Who can forget this guy was trundling at 120-125 km/hr in Perth of all places.

Forget about the PCB making this guy the T-20 captain, i am not sure he deserves a spot in the team at the moment.
 
Savak said:
One of the biggest reasons why Lahore Qalandars have had such a pathetic season is because their captain has habitually capitulated in the death overs with his bowling. Shaheen has been surviving on pure reputation but has gone missing for Pakistan when they needed him the most.

Went missing against India, Afghanistan, New Zealand, England in the ODI WC. Rohit, Gill, Kohli, KL Rahul treated him like an ordinary medium pacer. Who can forget this guy was trundling at 120-125 km/hr in Perth of all places.

Forget about the PCB making this guy the T-20 captain, i am not sure he deserves a spot in the team at the moment.
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What’s the solution?

Replace him with Amir?

Shaheen couldn’t defend 14. Amir bowled a last over of 6 runs and 1 wicket today.
 
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Another who seems to be heading towards a career in dramas.
 
Dr_Bassim said:
If we start throwing people out on the basis of bad overs, we wont have a team.
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Good. You can't keep carrying non performer over hyped superstars who habitually go missing.
 
He hasn't been the same since returning from injury.

Does he need a break to recover completely?
 
He looked quick this tournament. Physically he is back to where he was. He has no bowling plan.
 
That is what the pressure of captaincy does to you. Shahid Afridi was right in advising him not to accept this role.
 
RyanRyan10 said:
His batting has improved drastically. He can turn into a top class allrounder in white ball cricket.
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I would much rather have him be a no. 11 and fully firing with the ball.

Shaheen was world class with the ball and that's what everyone wants to see again.
 
I think he tries to copy his father-in-law by trying to be a match-winner with either his bowling or his batting. But just like his father-in-law, it rarely works with either.
 
Yes, he's been average I'd say, not totally poor. For the current standards of Pakistani bowling, he's still amongst the best. He was the standout bowler in the World Cup, despite the poor performances that you pointed out. In spit of his lack of pace and venom, he managed to pick up wickets and was from the leading wicket-takers of the pre-elimination stage.

I mostly blame his decline on PCB for their ugly misuse of him. They've been impatient and incompetent, and are the reason he has been unfit for a long time.

In any case, he can still make the team. There aren't many better options than him still.
 
Rana said:
What’s the solution?

Replace him with Amir?

Shaheen couldn’t defend 14. Amir bowled a last over of 6 runs and 1 wicket today.
Click to expand...
Sure, if he takes back his retirement. He publicly shows reluctance to play for Pakistan so it's hard to see him as a solution. But I, like you, like Amir, and think that he's still amongst the top pacers in Pakistan. Such is his talent that despite his drop in venom and pace, he can still bowl at the level that he does
 
Shaheen was on the right path until 2019 when the gang of 4 decided to betray Saifi and bring in the worst captain in Pakistans history

Since then his ego has gone to another level and he thinks he can do no wrong.

Fact is Shaheen has became a liability. His pace is down, his effectiveness with the new ball has reduced significantly and due to his low cricketing IQ he has no means to compensate.

Moving forward Shaheen must be thrown back into the domestic circuit and grind for a good 2-3 years before being reinstated into the team. In the mean time Mir Hamza is easily the best replacement
 
Dressing room culture in Team Pakistan is one of the worst out there. No professionalism and these players have Egos as big as Mount Everest . This bad culture of unprofessionalism also bleeds into PSL dressing rooms too. Shaheen Afridi has promoted himself at Number 5 but why? There has to be justification for that in professional teams but not in Pakistani franchise or team.. because that ego and unprofessional attitude is deep rooted .

Ps this guy Shaheen is learning from best none other than Shahid Afridi . Show off with minimal performance
 
The folks who advocated removing Babar from captaincy seem to be the most active on this thread..

Anyway going back to topic Shaheen is surviving on reputation on the basis of a few overs in the 2021 WT20 and 2023 Asia Cup.. I knew this guy was a bottler when Matthew Wade reverse scooped him for back to back sixes. Now it seems like this guy is ineffective with the new ball too.. I called it last year and demanded him to be booted out but no one listened.. However, I am pleased to finally see reality has dawned on everyone as to how mediocre this guy truly is. Good riddance!

And also take your buddy Haris Raul with you too
 
zarak said:
He looked quick this tournament. Physically he is back to where he was. He has no bowling plan.
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That's the thing, he is definitely still capable of bowling genuinely fast. He has the same problem as most Pakistan pace bowlers, lack of intelligence and lack of ability to control the new ball. He will always be demonstrably unreliable.
 
It would be better for Shaheen to leave the captaincy of both Lahore Qalandars and the Pakistan team and concentrate on his bowling. He can't handle pressure at all so it's better not to ruin his career.
 
Wasim Akram summed it up nicely.

Everyone knows with the new ball, he is going to be bowling full straight inswinging yorkers, it is not a surprise element anymore.

Everyone knows at the death he is either going to bowl slow cutters or he is going to go around the wicket and bowl full paced yorkers at the stumps.

He is too predictable now.

Wasim wants Shaheen to work on a back of the hand slower knuckle delivery for the death overs.
 
His dip in form is really concerning. Simply has not been the same bowler since he returned from injury. We all saw his new ball prowess dissipate in real time at the World Cup. All the wickets he took in that tournament usually came at the backend when batters tried to go after him. The pace has dropped significantly and above all, he just doesn't seem that threatening.

When I think back to 2022, there used to be a genuine sense of anticipation when he had the new ball in his hand. In T20s, his new ball spell fell like an event in itself because he was almost guaranteed to get a wicket.

I don't know if he still carrying an injury or if he's just holding back because he is scared of injuring himself again, but he badly needs to find his groove again or reinvent himself. And soon.
 
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