[VIDEO] Shaheen Shah Afridi - continues to impress - every time he bowls!

[Pacy with wisdom]

Knives already out for Shaheen.

Not sure he asked to be the leader of the Pakistan bowling attack at age 20 with hardly any experience behind him. Ideally him and Naseem would be the 4th/5th option right now.

It's the fans own fault for hyping him up so much. He could potentially be great but all this pressure will probably drag him down before he gets to realise his potential.

People here were giving him the title of world class 6 months ago when he was in great rhythm.
His stocks were in the skies before this match and now the same clueless bunch are dismissing him as "garbage".
The truth is; he has never been world class in tests. He can be in the future but not yet, because he is still understanding his game.

6 months ago he was bowling like a world class performer because things were happening for him.
But in this match, which has been after a long break; he waa desperately short on rhythm and struggling with the drifter as well as the away swinger to the rhb.
His pace also only improved today, and before that he was even struggling with that.

He is still young and is learning. He will have matches like this where he will forget his action.
It happens. Not everyone is an Amir of 2010 or a Wasim, for whom things just happen instinctively.
He is neither a Starc or junaid, so stop predicting his career graph by citing their examples.
He doesnt even have anything common with Junaid other than being a left armer.

Let him just figure out the process of his bowling action at this stage of his career. Once he has complete command over that, his focus will shift to improving his mental skills and how to out-think the batsmen.
When he develops a command over this as well, that is when he will be world class.

 

[Third Man]

Goodness me! Apparently, a 20 year old bowler is not allowed an indifferent game once in a while. Pak fans are way too emotional and knee-jerk. This is really stupid guys, and I think you'll realize that by the end of the series.

 

[Ellipsism]

He’s been carrying our mediocre bowling line up since his debut. One game where he’s been off colour and the knives are out. Pakistani fans are something else.

 

[Third Man]

He’s been carrying our mediocre bowling line up since his debut. One game where he’s been off colour and the knives are out. Pakistani fans are something else.

I find this Shaheen bashing from some of these posters quite shocking, tbh. It's embarrassing.

 

[ManFan]

One average match and the knives are out.

 

[Abid Z]

He did well.

He will have learnt a lot from this match.

Yes he could have bowled a bit better today, but can't fault his effort really.

He didn’t do well. He did ok. He bowled a few good balls but was/is wayward. Doesn’t seem to be able to Seam the ball away from rhb.

He will have learnt but he should be learning this away from the matches than using matches as finishing school. This shows we are lacking a squad of decent bowlers and not developing them properly.

He is over hyped right now.

 

[Pacy with wisdom]

He’s been carrying our mediocre bowling line up since his debut. One game where he’s been off colour and the knives are out. Pakistani fans are something else.

The cluelessness of our fans is nauseating.
Its my 2nd week here, and already i feel it taking a toll on my patience.

 

[Majid Khan]

He’s been carrying our mediocre bowling line up since his debut. One game where he’s been off colour and the knives are out. Pakistani fans are something else.

I think the problem is sometimes us fans overrate certain players and then when they don’t live up to those expectations , then they
get branded as garbage very quickly.

My views on Shaheen haven’t changed after this one test , rather his performance in this game has lived up to my expectations of a young inexperienced bowler who has limited skill and variety , average in terms of pace and mentally does not come across as confident or a smart thinking bowler who can ‘work’ batsmen out.

Before we get carried away we need to see some brilliance, and on the evidence so far after 9 tests with a bowling average of 30 and a single 5-fer v Sri Lanka (and a single 5-fer in ODI v a Bangladesh) — He doesn’t exactly convince me that he’s a potential match winning fast bowler who will run through batting line ups.

As [MENTION=9]Saj[/MENTION] might remember many years ago on Pakpassion on Sportsnetwork I once said the same about Umar Gul who was new on the scene at the time and some fans thought he was the a Pakistani Glenn McGrath.

My view back then was that Gul was the Pakistani Version of Venkatesh Prasad, mediocre and hard working and could be handy in seamer friendly conditions but a liability otherwise against tougher opposition.
This was also called harsh and it was an unpopular view.

But look at the fact , Umar Gul ended up with a test bowling average of 34 playing nearly 50 tests — not quite McGrath like in the end.

And for the record I hope Shaheen goes on and proves me wrong and rips apart batting line ups around the world, but as it stands based on what I’ve seen so far he’s a new left arm version of Umar Gul.

 

[Usman Chadda]

We are not bashing Shaheen on just one bad performance, but his inability to handle pressure when he is attacked.

Happened against Zazai in the WC warm-up, where he lost it and let that unfit slob smack him around.

Happened against Finch and Warner in the WC game, where he completely lost his length on a helpful track.

Happened numerous times in the England ODI series in 2019, when Root and Bairstow just went after him.

Happened today against a mediocre batsman, who has been averaging 5 in the last 11 games he has played.

We all want Shaheen to succeed, but let's not brush this under the carpet and call it out, so that he improves. He is young and will keep learning, but he needs to trust his skills when the going gets tough and not resort to brainless bowling.

 

[topspin]

He's one of our best two players and other than Babar, he is the only player in this team worthy of mention.

In the first innings he bowled well with little reward.

In the second innings he was largely ineffective on a slow wicket that had become to easier to bat on (against the pacers).

I get emotions are high and we're all distraught but the criticism is so misplaced here. The biggest culprits are Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Abid Ali - in that order.

 

[Usman Chadda]

He's one of our best two players and other than Babar, he is the only player in this team worthy of mention.

In the first innings he bowled well with little reward.

In the second innings he was largely ineffective on a slow wicket that had become to easier to bat on (against the pacers).

I get emotions are high and we're all distraught but the criticism is so misplaced here. The biggest culprits are Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Abid Ali - in that order.

There is no hope for Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq. Doubt many Pakistan fans even care about these two passengers anymore.

Frustrating to see such a skilled bowler completely melt in the face of pressure.

 

[Hasan123]

He is one of our best players. He didn't have his best game but their is no need to call him overrated and every name under the sun. He is 20 and hasn't played many tests.

 

[The Viper]

He is one of our best players. He didn't have his best game but their is no need to call him overrated and every name under the sun. He is 20 and hasn't played many tests.

Spot on. His performance was not perfect, but he showed sparks of brilliance. We have to remember this was our first Test back. We may have played warm up games, but nothing replaces the experience of competitive matches. Shaheen looked really good a few months ago. He is just out of rhythm, which is natural after a long break. In ODI's he was out of touch, but look how he bounced back - he has the quality, we just have to be patient.

 

[Savak]

We are not bashing Shaheen on just one bad performance, but his inability to handle pressure when he is attacked.

Happened against Zazai in the WC warm-up, where he lost it and let that unfit slob smack him around.

Happened against Finch and Warner in the WC game, where he completely lost his length on a helpful track.

Happened numerous times in the England ODI series in 2019, when Root and Bairstow just went after him.

Happened today against a mediocre batsman, who has been averaging 5 in the last 11 games he has played.

We all want Shaheen to succeed, but let's not brush this under the carpet and call it out, so that he improves. He is young and will keep learning, but he needs to trust his skills when the going gets tough and not resort to brainless bowling.

He had improved tremendously since the 2019 WC, he has had his first bad game in ages

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Knee jerk as usual from Pakistan fans. One day these players are world beaters and next day they are garbage. Have seen it enough in last 20 years.
Give these young lads time to develop. The problem was batting. Should have added 30-40 more runs.

 

[Hasan123]

Spot on. His performance was not perfect, but he showed sparks of brilliance. We have to remember this was our first Test back. We may have played warm up games, but nothing replaces the experience of competitive matches. Shaheen looked really good a few months ago. He is just out of rhythm, which is natural after a long break. In ODI's he was out of touch, but look how he bounced back - he has the quality, we just have to be patient.

In the world cup it took him a few games to get a hang of English conditions. I have a feeling he will be better in the next 2 games.

 

[Abdullah719]

We are not bashing Shaheen on just one bad performance, but his inability to handle pressure when he is attacked.

Happened against Zazai in the WC warm-up, where he lost it and let that unfit slob smack him around.

Happened against Finch and Warner in the WC game, where he completely lost his length on a helpful track.

Happened numerous times in the England ODI series in 2019, when Root and Bairstow just went after him.

Happened today against a mediocre batsman, who has been averaging 5 in the last 11 games he has played.

We all want Shaheen to succeed, but let’s not brush this under the carpet and call it out, so that he improves. He is young and will keep learning, but he needs to trust his skills when the going gets tough and not resort to brainless bowling.

Almost all of the occasions that you are citing were in the pre-World Cup period where he was struggling to find the right length and he was getting smashed to all corners of the stadium by random batsmen regularly because he was bowling tripe. He was a different bowler afterward and he was consistently good for the most part over the last year or so.

 

[Kaka4pope]

Knee jerk as usual from Pakistan fans. One day these players are world beaters and next day they are garbage. Have seen it enough in last 20 years.
Give these young lads time to develop. The problem was batting. Should have added 30-40 more runs.

Agreed, expecting elite consistency from a 20/17 year olds is asking a lot - Pakistan are going to be streaky with both of them in the side but that's the pay-off when wanting to give exposure.

I thought Naseem's channel was good second innings, Shaheen does need to get closer to the stumps from over and get that ball moving away - like Anderson was doing to Masood first innings.

In an ideal world, where Amir prioritises tests, Shaheen/Naseem get some rotation at first change - with Abbas/Amir sharing new ball in England.

But given the circumstances I'd continue with the youngsters, unless fitness dictates otherwise. We just need both of them testing the channel more, like Rabada/Cummins do in the mid to high 80s - doesn't have to be break neck.

 

[Grunge101]

Shaheen is obsessed with bowling around the wicket yet he is ineffective. The wicket of Pope was due to extra bounce.

Yah, someone needs to look into this. He shifts to around the wicket the first oppurtunity he gets and sometimes this is counterintuitive. He played directly into Woakes' hands yesterday.

Rashid latif mentioned the similarity with Starc's issues last year when he wasnt bowling over the wicket because of the strain his knee was going under from that angle. Team management stepped in, worked on his knee stability and directly told him not to bowl ATW. Maybe Shah is having similar issues.

 

[ishtiaq_ctg]

He'll be top 3 bowler in the World if managed properly. Two things he should always remember
1. dosent have to try to bowl express pace. He dosent need the pace. mid 130s is enough
2. just be patient & continue to bowl a channel.
I know these two aspects of bowling are severely underrated in pakistan as even the pakistani experts seem to get bored with bowling a channel and advises to change it up every so often just for the sake of it.

 

[Syed1]

Lovely bowler. I actually find him a better prospect than the much hyped Naseem. That being said Naseem is excellent too but I feel he has been inducted far too early and hasn't really learnt the art of getting a set batsman dismissed. Sheer pace could account for someone totally new to the crease or tailenders but a good bat with their eye in can navigate 145+ with relative ease. Example Bobby vs Archer.


Shaheen has swing and bounce in his arsenal as well. He is a potential Pak legend inshallah. Just stay away from bookies.

 

[MenInG]

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This delivery needs to be watched again.

 

[Titan24]

Top talent, people need to be patient. He is just 20 and last one was his 9th test match. Not to forget he had to learn everything at test level because he was selected for test cricket after 1 FC match. The way he has progressed and developed his skills in this little time should be appreciated,

He at the moment is still learning to ball in different situations, this is something which can only come with time. He balls really well and accurately with the new ball more often than not, just needs to learn that during the middle of the innings when a partnership is going on how to set the batsman up and how to be strategic against different batsmen and tail.

Test cricket is the premium format of the game for a reason and the number of situations which come into a game of test cricket can be many. Only way to learn all of them is to go through them at sometime, ofcourse bowling coach should try to make the learning phase as smooth as possible.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Almost all of the occasions that you are citing were in the pre-World Cup period where he was struggling to find the right length and he was getting smashed to all corners of the stadium by random batsmen regularly because he was bowling tripe. He was a different bowler afterward and he was consistently good for the most part over the last year or so.

Yes he has bowled well post-WC, but how many times was he taken on and attacked like the instances I have mentioned in my post?

There is an issue here, and it needs to be drilled into Shaheen that he needs to calm down. He has the skills, it's so frustrating to see him not trust them under pressure. I'm sorry, but 9/10 times Shaheen is good enough to get the better of mediocre batsmen like Woakes. But to lose the plot completely at such a crucial juncture of the game is disappointing.

 

[OldWarHorse]

Looked quality in the first innings but didnt get the ball to move enough for me. Is still young and learning so will get better obviously. Serious talent nonetheless.

 

[Pacy with wisdom]

Top talent, people need to be patient. He is just 20 and last one was his 9th test match. Not to forget he had to learn everything at test level because he was selected for test cricket after 1 FC match. The way he has progressed and developed his skills in this little time should be appreciated,

He at the moment is still learning to ball in different situations, this is something which can only come with time. He balls really well and accurately with the new ball more often than not, just needs to learn that during the middle of the innings when a partnership is going on how to set the batsman up and how to be strategic against different batsmen and tail.

Test cricket is the premium format of the game for a reason and the number of situations which come into a game of test cricket can be many. Only way to learn all of them is to go through them at sometime, ofcourse bowling coach should try to make the learning phase as smooth as possible.

Wasim made his debut in 1984 with just one first class match to his credit, at the age of 18.
Was he world class then?
I dont think so. How much of an impact did he have on the 1987 England tour?
He only started to make his mark at 1988 onwards, and rose to prominence on the 89 tour of Australia.
If we apply this with Shaheen then this would be somewhere around 2022, 2023.

Naseem is more like Waqar and will reach there quicker. However, even he needs a year or two to understand.
You also have to factor in that they are not playing with Imran.
Therefore, we need to be patient with these two.

 

[MenInG]

Wasim made his debut in 1984 with just one first class match to his credit, at the age of 18.
Was he world class then?
I dont think so. How much of an impact did he have on the 1987 England tour?
He only started to make his mark at 1988 onwards, and rose to prominence on the 89 tour of Australia.
If we apply this with Shaheen then this would be somewhere around 2022, 2023.

Naseem is more like Waqar and will reach there quicker. However, even he needs a year or two to understand.
You also have to factor in that they are not playing with Imran.
Therefore, we need to be patient with these two.

As disappointed that Mohammad Abbas despite his seniority was nowhere to be seen in terms of advising the youngsters. Really trial by fire for them

 

[Pacy with wisdom]

As disappointed that Mohammad Abbas despite his seniority was nowhere to be seen in terms of advising the youngsters. Really trial by fire for them

Abbas is just a craftsman and not a leader.
This is why Amir's retirement is even more hurtful, because of all people, he atleast had the capacity to lead the way in pressure situations and also guide these two youngsters.

 

[MenInG]

Abbas is just a craftsman and not a leader.
This is why Amir's retirement is even more hurtful, because of all people, he atleast had the capacity to lead the way in pressure situations and also guide these two youngsters.

Absolutely but that does lay bare some of the assertions around Abbas's inclusion saying that he was the most senior amongst all the bowlers - what good is that seniority?

 

[sindhiboy]

Wasim made his debut in 1984 with just one first class match to his credit, at the age of 18.
Was he world class then?
I dont think so. How much of an impact did he have on the 1987 England tour?
He only started to make his mark at 1988 onwards, and rose to prominence on the 89 tour of Australia.
If we apply this with Shaheen then this would be somewhere around 2022, 2023.

Naseem is more like Waqar and will reach there quicker. However, even he needs a year or two to understand.
You also have to factor in that they are not playing with Imran.
Therefore, we need to be patient with these two.

Also keep in mind that wasim only got 70 wickets after 25 tests. No bowler with those numbers would be persisted with in this age.

shaheen and naseem are still developing, it is not plausible to expect them to perform so quickly. that is why amirs experience was needed, or another bowler like juanid , you cant lead the attack overseas with teenagers

 

[Pacy with wisdom]

Absolutely but that does lay bare some of the assertions around Abbas's inclusion saying that he was the most senior amongst all the bowlers - what good is that seniority?

That is because he is the only bowler we have who knows his role well and has the capacity to fulfill it.
The rest who are on the bench dont have that capacity and are there to just make up the numbers.
Therefore, we have extrapolated his role into something he isnt capable of.

 

[Pacy with wisdom]

Also keep in mind that wasim only got 70 wickets after 25 tests. No bowler with those numbers would be persisted with in this age.

shaheen and naseem are still developing, it is not plausible to expect them to perform so quickly. that is why amirs experience was needed, or another bowler like juanid , you cant lead the attack overseas with teenagers

junaid has not been international class ever since the start of 2014. You guys need to get over him now.
Amir was definitely needed. Even with his decreased pace, he is clever enough to buy wickets at crunch times.
I am hoping that he comes back somehow, if not this tour, then the next one to New Zealand.
If Shan does get installed as skipper, then I expect this to happen since they both have a very good working relationship.

 

[aloo paratha]

He'll bounce back. He's a class act. I remember when he had a few off games vs England in May last year people were calling for his head and for him to not be included in the final World Cup squad. Even then, I said back him, because he had been our best bowler in the months leading up to that series, and we all saw how he was our best bowler in the World Cup.

 

[shamaan]

He'll bounce back. He's a class act. I remember when he had a few off games vs England in May last year people were calling for his head and for him to not be included in the final World Cup squad. Even then, I said back him, because he had been our best bowler in the months leading up to that series, and we all saw how he was our best bowler in the World Cup.

Agreed pluss he can only gain experience by playing

 

[Pacy with wisdom]

He'll bounce back. He's a class act. I remember when he had a few off games vs England in May last year people were calling for his head and for him to not be included in the final World Cup squad. Even then, I said back him, because he had been our best bowler in the months leading up to that series, and we all saw how he was our best bowler in the World Cup.

True.
A number of players are talented but at this level it all depends on how big a heart and how much character you have. Both Shaheen and Naseem have this in abundance.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

I think we need to back them, but only 1 of then should play at a time.

 

[aloo paratha]

Our best bowler in the World Cup, our best bowler in Australia, 5fer against Sri Lanka, 4fer against Bangladesh, best fast bowler in this years PSL. You don't throw em out after 1 bad match.

 

[shamaan]

I think we need to back them, but only 1 of then should play at a time.

I'd play both as we dont have any other bowlers

 

[shamaan]

Our best bowler in the World Cup, our best bowler in Australia, 5fer against Sri Lanka, 4fer against Bangladesh, best fast bowler in this years PSL. You don't throw em out after 1 bad match.

Agreed they need to be backed otherwise confidence will be down

 

[fight_club]

Lot of posters would be really emnarrassed by the end of this series.

Pakistan has a very good bowling attach but they lack a aggressive leader on the field and sometime it hurt badly.

Don't give up on coffee just yet

 

[Saj]

2 for 112. Figures that don't do him justice.

With a bit of luck he could have had a few more wickets.

The lad looks excellent, give him time.

 

[Infinitee786]

He’s definitely talented. I think we should be sticking with him for the future. He seems to be developing at a good rate and I can see him being our go to bowler in the future.

There’s a few points which I hope he improves on:

1) he seems to have a skip forward as opposed to a jump in his delivery stride, personally I’d like to see him work on this and I think a jump would offer more pace and prevent his no balls which were quite often in the last test.

2) when he lands on his right foot; it’s pointing towards 1st/2nd slip. I think this could be causing too much stress on the ankle and could cause him to roll over it at some point. I think the way it locks so to speak is the reason he has to collapse his front leg as he can’t drive through it. I would like to see that foot pointing either at 12 o’clock (like Irfan Pathan or Sam Curran) or maybe even 11:30 (like amir).
This will allow him to keep the front leg braced and will increase his mph and also allow him to pivot better to consistently get inswing. With his foot placement at the moment, his arm has to come almost over his head and he ends up pushing across rather than pivoting. When he comes around the wicket his seam position is far more improved as he doesn’t have this problem.

3) his “flick”. I know Wasim Akram seems to love this flick which he says generates pace etc but personally I think it leads to him almost cutting the ball rather than getting proper backspin that you’d want when trying to swing it. Moreover, Sky’s coverage of his arm was more than any bowler and especially his slower bowl where the flick was exaggerated, it could lead to accusations of throwing due to having a slight bend which extends from beginning to end of the flick. I feel cutting this out will give him more control and I’d like to see him use the shoulder more.

All in all, he’s definitely one we need to persevere with now that Amir has retired from Tests. Hopefully our coaches can help him on the technical apsects of his bowling. Wish him all the best

 

[Manunited18]

For a guy that played his first competitive game in 6 months I thought he bowled pretry well.

 

[Manunited18]

He’s definitely talented. I think we should be sticking with him for the future. He seems to be developing at a good rate and I can see him being our go to bowler in the future.

There’s a few points which I hope he improves on:

1) he seems to have a skip forward as opposed to a jump in his delivery stride, personally I’d like to see him work on this and I think a jump would offer more pace and prevent his no balls which were quite often in the last test.

2) when he lands on his right foot; it’s pointing towards 1st/2nd slip. I think this could be causing too much stress on the ankle and could cause him to roll over it at some point. I think the way it locks so to speak is the reason he has to collapse his front leg as he can’t drive through it. I would like to see that foot pointing either at 12 o’clock (like Irfan Pathan or Sam Curran) or maybe even 11:30 (like amir).
This will allow him to keep the front leg braced and will increase his mph and also allow him to pivot better to consistently get inswing. With his foot placement at the moment, his arm has to come almost over his head and he ends up pushing across rather than pivoting. When he comes around the wicket his seam position is far more improved as he doesn’t have this problem.

3) his “flick”. I know Wasim Akram seems to love this flick which he says generates pace etc but personally I think it leads to him almost cutting the ball rather than getting proper backspin that you’d want when trying to swing it. Moreover, Sky’s coverage of his arm was more than any bowler and especially his slower bowl where the flick was exaggerated, it could lead to accusations of throwing due to having a slight bend which extends from beginning to end of the flick. I feel cutting this out will give him more control and I’d like to see him use the shoulder more.

All in all, he’s definitely one we need to persevere with now that Amir has retired from Tests. Hopefully our coaches can help him on the technical apsects of his bowling. Wish him all the best

Pretty certain a former great fast bowler in waqar would be putting these issues in place if they were necessary, sometimes overcoaching /overcorrecting takes the gloss off the finish, and it's better in what you feel comfortable with.

 

[Infinitee786]

Think another fast bowling great called Wasim Akram mentioned this issue with the flick and pivot about at least a year ago or more. It obviously hasn’t been addressed.

The problem with our setup is our previous “greats” become our coaches based upon the fact that they were “great” and not because they can coach.

It doesn’t logically follow that a great player becomes a great coach but unfortunately for Pakistan this has been their approach hence why we ended up with Misbah who is unproven.

Time will tell, I hope shaheen does correct the aforementioned points but at the same time more than happy for him to prove me wrong and become a star in spite of those points

 

[Titan24]

Wasim made his debut in 1984 with just one first class match to his credit, at the age of 18.
Was he world class then?
I dont think so. How much of an impact did he have on the 1987 England tour?
He only started to make his mark at 1988 onwards, and rose to prominence on the 89 tour of Australia.
If we apply this with Shaheen then this would be somewhere around 2022, 2023.

Naseem is more like Waqar and will reach there quicker. However, even he needs a year or two to understand.
You also have to factor in that they are not playing with Imran.
Therefore, we need to be patient with these two.

Exactly.

 

[Manunited18]

Think another fast bowling great called Wasim Akram mentioned this issue with the flick and pivot about at least a year ago or more. It obviously hasn’t been addressed.

The problem with our setup is our previous “greats” become our coaches based upon the fact that they were “great” and not because they can coach.

It doesn’t logically follow that a great player becomes a great coach but unfortunately for Pakistan this has been their approach hence why we ended up with Misbah who is unproven.

Time will tell, I hope shaheen does correct the aforementioned points but at the same time more than happy for him to prove me wrong and become a star in spite of those points

Wasim , a man with a Hugh ego, if true shaheen had these issues as a young kid then that sums wasim "I know " akram up.

 

[Manunited18]

Our best bowler in the World Cup, our best bowler in Australia, 5fer against Sri Lanka, 4fer against Bangladesh, best fast bowler in this years PSL. You don't throw em out after 1 bad match.

Exactly, the young man was obviously short of a gallop because of not playing for months

 

[shamaan]

For a guy that played his first competitive game in 6 months I thought he bowled pretry well.

Agreed hes good with the new ball but just needs to work on the older ball to help gain that reserve swing