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[VIDEOS/PICTURES] Is Shaheen Shah Afridi the best fast-bowler in the world right now?

Hawkeye said:
Shaheen is one trick pony.

Relies on first few overs swing.

If there’s no swing on offer you can absolutely smash him all around the park.

His no.1 ranking is as fake as Pakistan being ranked no1 team.

True king of fast bowling today is Bumrah.
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Bumrah has been the best fast bowler for the last 7 years soo consistent and delivers every game. Afridi is just a trundler now been burnt to the ground same like we did with amir and quite frankly he’s finished needs to retire
 
This is carnage getting absolutely leathered to all corners. We are all witnessing the end of his career and all the other bowlers playing today.

his 77 mph pies are being dealt with today and quite frankly will vanish in to thin air. Post injury pcb has destroyed him
 
He only bowled well against Australia & Bangladesh. In all other matches he was taken to cleaners without any fear.
 
Only the fool believes he is the best just like Babar is better than Kohli.


Real cricket fans know Bumrah is the undisputed No.1.
 
He needs to be rested big time. The PCB should not pick him for the Australian tour. The PCB should not issue him any Nocs for the leagues for a few years. He has to be mandated to participate in Pakistan's first class season.
 
Savak said:
He needs to be rested big time. The PCB should not pick him for the Australian tour. The PCB should not issue him any Nocs for the leagues for a few years. He has to be mandated to participate in Pakistan's first class season.
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Too late he’s done finished won’t ever recover as he’s been burnt down to the ground soo badly will be very hard to bowl fast again
 
Mixed World Cup for him.

Now holds the record for the most expensive outing for a Pakistani bowler in World Cup history.

10 overs 90 runs
 
I hope the clowns at PCB ensure Afridi at least takes a month long break from cricket. He looks exhausted.
 
If Babar is stripped of captaincy, Shaheen also shouldn't be in contention.
 
Bhaijaan said:
Bit harsh bro.
He’s not fully fit otherwise he’s totally a world class and worlds best level bowler
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Not harsh at all

Bowling isn’t just about things going your way when the ball is hard and new.
 
PCB needs to rest him for atleast 5-6 months and to cancel all his Nocs for the T20 leagues
 
Savak said:
He needs to be rested big time. The PCB should not pick him for the Australian tour. The PCB should not issue him any Nocs for the leagues for a few years. He has to be mandated to participate in Pakistan's first class season.
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All players must be forced to play first class cricket without any doubt. Shaheen will announce retirement if he will be asked to play first class cricket 😁
 
zaidihusain said:
All players must be forced to play first class cricket without any doubt. Shaheen will announce retirement if he will be asked to play first class cricket 😁
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of course he will retire if he can't play leagues, pcb isn't paying him!
 
Legendary performance today vs NZ.

Not sure whether he is the best. But he sure now is the most expensive Pakistani bowler in the history of World Cups.

Guess we won’t be seeing him imitate the batsmen he got out today :rp

10-0-90-0
 
What an irony to see him getting butchered like a 90's typical trundler straightway after the number 1 ranking bullcrap. Pakistani players & fans, really need to stop this obsession of number 1 this & that. The team has only suffered everytime they tried to celebrate this rankings & other useless milestones. On the topic he is very good, but was never better than Bumrah or Starc/Boult (when these two were in prime). Even at their worst days it's very rare to see Bumrah & Boult spraying over 80/90 runs with ease. Starc obviously has gone through such spells numerous occasions, but then out of nowhere he produces this 5/6 wicket hauls as if he is taking a scroll in the park. Shaheen can't do either of these.
 
yes indeed he is one of the best but he needs to be more consistent with his performance.

One day he bowls like a shaheen and the other day he looks like that he is carrying some sort of injury.
 
NishanKonar said:
Been hearing this " he is not fully fit " excuse for more than a year now
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I know its annoying to hear things again and again, but in this this case, I think this point is actually true.

And some may say the following claim is crazy but: I actually think Shaheen has been off since 2021 October in the Dubai T20WC.
 
He has been average in his first spell in this world cup, has picked up quite a few soft wickets
 
Savak said:
PCB needs to rest him for atleast 5-6 months and to cancel all his Nocs for the T20 leagues
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A Big Worry For me is that after this World Cup Pakistan has:

- Tour of Australia (3 Tests)
- 5 T20s & 3ODIs away to New Zealand
- Dubai ILT20
- PSL
- Pakistan 4 T20s vs England
- T20WC in June

The ones I underlined, I hope he rests most if not all of those matches, but for the other tours/leagues, there is most likely a strong chance that he has to play all of the matches for those events and series.

With Naseem Shah Ihsanullah injured for Australia tour, I just dont see them resting Shaheen.

And PSL is a massive event/ somewhat celebration , with the great Lahore crowd attendance too. I think there is next to no chance Lahore Qalandars will let their captain miss PSL matches.

And I dont think the Dubai ILT20 Team which signed would want him to miss out/ cancel his contract just a few months before it starts.

He still is not bowling at his best, and with that upcoming schedule, I am genuinely worried of something serious that could happen.
 
Mohammed Siraj ascends to the top spot in ODI bowling rankings! Overtaking Shaheen Afridi who now stands at fifth position following his 10-over for 90 runs in the recent match with New Zealand.


Screenshot 2023-11-08 124632.png
 
Like I said He’s finished bowling 75 mph pies absolute filth. he’s a trundler needs to retire
 
Even these washed up English players are lining up this fraud and trundler. Bowing 78 mph pies will not work in the modern era you will even get carted around by tailenders if you do.

What a sad sight to see. Rushing this guy back from injury pakistan has lost the only decent bowler they had. Finished at 23. Don’t see him regaining his pace back same way we burnt amir to the ground he retired at 27 this guys finished even earlier.
 
kron said:
needs a break
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Break ain’t going to do any good when the pcb board has burnt him to the ground just like they did with amir.

I’ve watched cricket for 4 decades let me tell you once your pace goes it doesn’t come back . He’s been bowling 78 mph pies since his comeback from injury

Sadly he’s done
 
JAV12341 said:
Break ain’t going to do any good when the pcb board has burnt him to the ground just like they did with amir.

I’ve watched cricket for 4 decades let me tell you once your pace goes it doesn’t come back . He’s been bowling 78 mph pies since his comeback from injury

Sadly he’s done
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bumrah had an injury and came back just as quick as what he was before.
he was 138 to 150 prior to 2019. had an injury in 2020. went down to 133 to 140 in 2021 where he had a bad year
had surgery.
now he is back to 138 to 145
shaheen can too
 
kron said:
bumrah had an injury and came back just as quick as what he was before.
he was 138 to 150 prior to 2019. had an injury in 2020. went down to 133 to 140 in 2021 where he had a bad year
had surgery.
now he is back to 138 to 145
shaheen can too
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Mark my words bumrah was bowling within himself doesn’t take these bilateral series to seriously. They rested bumrah for a whole year to make sure he’s up to 142kph before bring him back hence why bumrah is the goat now

And will win India the World Cup. Afridi is finished you’ll see. Might bowl well in patches but the old afridi won’t be seen again. His Yorkers he can’t bowl because he’s bowling pies.
 
JAV12341 said:
Mark my words bumrah was bowling within himself doesn’t take these bilateral series to seriously. They rested bumrah for a whole year to make sure he’s up to 142kph before bring him back hence why bumrah is the goat now

And will win India the World Cup. Afridi is finished you’ll see. Might bowl well in patches but the old afridi won’t be seen again. His Yorkers he can’t bowl because he’s bowling pies.
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he is still good man. problem is lack of bounce. for someone so tall, he doesnt get that steepling boune. cant always rely on yorkers. it becomes predictable. need variation. need to seam the ball at 140 plus.
 
This guy played all 3 matches of ODI series against Afghanistan in August. Why such an important bowler has to play every random series?
 
Shaheen has been very poor all tournament. Forget best bowler, hes not even in the top 3 of left armers this World Cup. Madushanka, Jansen, Topley, Starc have all been more threatening.

He needs rest. I would even rest him for the Aus tour. There’s no way we’re winning that, better to invest in Shaheen’s future
 
Shaheen hasn't had a good outing since he came back after an injury. But still, he is among the wickets in this World Cup. He really just needs to rest and focus on himself to be completely fit for any series. No need to overburden yourself.
 
Getting taken to cleaners by a washed up stokes now. Shami absolutely owned stoked couldn’t lay a bat on him. Even shami and all the Indian pacers are superior to this trundler.

What a sad sight washed up past his best stokes taking another washed up bowler afridi to the cleaners.
 
Got taken aprt today even the Yorker was a trundling Yorker at 80mph has become a pie thrower and looks bang everywhere with his trundling pace.

Will get taken apart by most teams now. Has just been smashed by a washed up England
 
Worst I've seen Shaheen bowl. One game aside, he has had a dreadful World Cup.

He hasn't swung the new ball, bowled on the legs, bowled wide, bowled full tosses. Very poor.
 
FlickedOffHips said:
Worst I've seen Shaheen bowl. One game aside, he has had a dreadful World Cup.

He hasn't swung the new ball, bowled on the legs, bowled wide, bowled full tosses. Very poor.
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Sadly he’s done. Won’t last long watch by next year will get taken apart by every big team. Will become a minnow basher like his timid captain babar
 
Shaheen is a useless. Please don't give me this not 100% fit excuse. Shaheen is an awful death bowler has been smacked around for years. As others have said he should not tour Australia and be used sparingly. Can't stand his awful celebration too. Out of form English batters have exposed him
 
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ssuhaide said:
Shaheen is a useless now . Please don't give me this not 100% fit excuse. Shaheen is an awful death bowler has been smacked around for years. As others have said he should not tour Australia and be used sparingly. Can't stand his awful celebration too. Out of form English batters have exposed him
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You got that wrong he got torn apart by washed up past their best English team. Yea I agree afridi is a useless now. Was lethal prior to his injury but has been burnt to the ground and has turned into cannon fodder. Before we know it he will be bowling chaminda Vaas pace 73 mph and will get taken to the cleaners on a regular now. He’s done
 
JAV12341 said:
Sadly he’s done. Won’t last long watch by next year will get taken apart by every big team. Will become a minnow basher like his timid captain babar
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I think he'll be alright. But he is in a bad funk right now.

It's a shame the Australia tour is coming up for Pakistan, because he looks like he needs a break. He's struggling to even the pitch the ball accurately. That's not him.
 
FlickedOffHips said:
I think he'll be alright. But he is in a bad funk right now.

It's a shame the Australia tour is coming up for Pakistan, because he looks like he needs a break. He's struggling to even the pitch the ball accurately. That's not him.
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The physics of the game are once you burn a body to the ground after injury you just don’t recover prime example being Amir.

Even amir is a better bowler at his pace than this washed up afridi
 
TheSultan said:
Shaheen has been very poor all tournament. Forget best bowler, hes not even in the top 3 of left armers this World Cup. Madushanka, Jansen, Topley, Starc have all been more threatening.

He needs rest. I would even rest him for the Aus tour. There’s no way we’re winning that, better to invest in Shaheen’s future
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Madhushanka and Jansen, yes, Starc has been even poorer, and Topley didn't play enough.
 
I still believe the other problem with afridi losing pace is his real age.

M asif was spot on that these kpk players have taken age fudging to another level.

The way this afridi pace has dropped is like when we saw waqar and wasim pace drop at tail end of their careers but by that time both were in their late 30s , but even a retirement approaching waqar and wasim with one leg were better than this afridi who should be getting stronger and quicker and better on the basis of the age he claims, he's even developing a dad's body too.
 
Huge, massive test coming up in Australia. With Naseem still injured, Shaheen will need to look for wickets without being expensive.

If he manages to average in the 20s, it will be a world class performance, given the circumstances.
 
Greg Chappell not holding back:

"Pakistan have produced stirring pace bowlers. The attack will be led here by left-arm speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi. At 198 centimetres tall, he can be a handful on the bouncy Australian pitches if he gets his length right. Afridi swings it both ways and will trouble all batsmen but especially the left-handers, of which we have four in the top seven. How David Warner and Usman Khawaja start will have a big bearing on the outcome of the series. However, he is no Wasim Akram – far from it"
 
MenInG said:
Greg Chappell not holding back:

"Pakistan have produced stirring pace bowlers. The attack will be led here by left-arm speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi. At 198 centimetres tall, he can be a handful on the bouncy Australian pitches if he gets his length right. Afridi swings it both ways and will trouble all batsmen but especially the left-handers, of which we have four in the top seven. How David Warner and Usman Khawaja start will have a big bearing on the outcome of the series. However, he is no Wasim Akram – far from it"
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This may be true, but nobody is Wasim Akram. The combination of skills and bowling intelligence has never been matched in any left arm pacer.

What’s missing for Shaheen is the 5-10 extra KPH of speed he had which made all of his skills much more deadly.
 
Shaheen lost his venom post-injury but the way he bowled in the world cup in India is something that is a confidence booster. Shaheen has got all the tricks up his sleeves, he just needs more focus and practice and the rest of good things will eventually follow.
 
Devadwal said:
Big test for Shaheen .this tour will defines the legacy of Shaheen career
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I don’t think so, he’s 23 and still not 100% after his injury. He’ll have more opportunities to tour Australia in the future.
 
160KPH said:
I don’t think so, he’s 23 and still not 100% after his injury. He’ll have more opportunities to tour Australia in the future.
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I hear from more than one year that he is not fit then tell me when he will be completely fit? If he is not fit than why he is playing cricket. This is all excuses nothing else
 
160KPH said:
I don’t think so, he’s 23 and still not 100% after his injury. He’ll have more opportunities to tour Australia in the future.
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When will he be fit?

Will he become fit by playing all formats for Pakistan and then 2-3 leagues and then County?

When?
 
Devadwal said:
I hear from more than one year that he is not fit then tell me when he will be completely fit? If he is not fit than why he is playing cricket. This is all excuses nothing else
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I think he should not be playing until he is fully healthy. Just look at his pace and it’s obvious. In the shorter formats he was hitting high 140’s and even had an occasional ball around 150 kph. Now he’s operating at the high 130’s.

India managed Bumrah perfectly and did not bring him back until fully healthy. Shaheen is not going to recover by playing such a huge number of matches while he never fully recovered. Pakistan unfortunately had a number of injuries of our frontline bowlers - Naseem and Shaheen - as well as our up and coming bowlers at the same time so I think the management became desperate to bring Shaheen back.

cricketjoshila said:
When will he be fit?

Will he become fit by playing all formats for Pakistan and then 2-3 leagues and then County?

When?
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Maybe never? I doubt he’s going to become fully healthy when he plays all formats and was even made the T20 captain. It would not be surprising if he has another major injury because he never was given the chance to recover and become fully 100%. Ideally, he would at the very least be resting this Australian tour instead of grinding away on these flat pitches when he is not back to his best.

I don’t think he should have played Asia Cup or the World Cup either. Also, it’s possible that he’ll never be what he was before injury - just have to wait and see.
 
He is playing too many games non-stop. For the Australia series, he should have been rested. I fear he can't represent Pakistan after the age of 30 due to injuries.
 
Jason Gillespie speaking to Saj in an interview for PakPassion about what he admires about Shaheen and why he could be a threat to Australian batters during the upcoming series:

"I love watching him ball - The old fast-bowler in me, I just love watching good fast bowling, and great fast bowling at that, and I certainly put Shaheen in that category."

"I love watching him bowl as he runs in. He bowls at really good pace, he swings the ball, and he can swing it quite late, he can get some reverse swing as well".

"He bowls very disciplined lines and very disciplined lengths and he's an aggressive bowler and you know his bowling is suited to Australian conditions."

"If he can get the ball to swing that's probably always been if there's one thing that Australian batsmen um you know over the years have probably struggled with at times is really good genuine swing bowling and you know if Shaheen Shah Afridi can get it right then you know he could cause some real trouble".
 
He averages,

17 against BD/WI/SL/ZIM
37 against Aus/NZ/SA/Eng

He needs to step up against good teams.
 
Pakistan bowling attack is bang average, Shaheen is world class and doesn’t get enough credit for carrying the teams fortunes all on his back. Despite that he has delivered, but his team mates need to stand up more. There’s a reason why he is universally acclaimed by pundits and purists, he walks into any team in the world, but it’s a shame there is not enough support from others. He would be averaging around about 15 if he played for a team like Australia.
 
Doesn’t belong in the conversation for best bowler.

Bumrah
Shami
Cummins
Hazelwood
Starc
Boult
Jansen
Rabada

All of them are better than Shaheen at this point.
 
Still feel he needs a few months off to regain his full fitness. The skills are all there but they’re so much deadlier when they’re at high 140’s KPH rather than 130’s.
 
The world will quickly realize when I say Shaheen is the most overrated bowler right now in cricket. Even Ravi Shastri agrees. Acts like Wasim Akram, quality like Jaydev Unadkat. Nothing more than a trundler. He gets cheap wickets nowadays to boost his figures.

Pakistani fans will remain under the delusion that Shaheen is injured and needs more time to rehabilitate. It's been more than 1 year since his injury. Apparently, somehow he still hasn't recovered. God knows what injury it is that allows him to play all matches but doesn't allow him to bowl at 140+kph.

Mitchell Starc, 10 years older than him has had all sorts of injuries (knee, shin, calf, ankle, back stress fracture, metatarsal) throughout his career but he comfortably bowls 145kph regularly. Mohammad Sami maintained a pace of over 140kph throughout his international career but Shaheen cannot because he's 'injured' since July 2022. Great.
 
shariqnoor said:
The world will quickly realize when I say Shaheen is the most overrated bowler right now in cricket. Even Ravi Shastri agrees. Acts like Wasim Akram, quality like Jaydev Unadkat. Nothing more than a trundler. He gets cheap wickets nowadays to boost his figures.

Pakistani fans will remain under the delusion that Shaheen is injured and needs more time to rehabilitate. It's been more than 1 year since his injury. Apparently, somehow he still hasn't recovered. God knows what injury it is that allows him to play all matches but doesn't allow him to bowl at 140+kph.

Mitchell Starc, 10 years older than him has had all sorts of injuries (knee, shin, calf, ankle, back stress fracture, metatarsal) throughout his career but he comfortably bowls 145kph regularly. Mohammad Sami maintained a pace of over 140kph throughout his international career but Shaheen cannot because he's 'injured' since July 2022. Great.
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How many games has starc played compared to shaami and shaheen since 2022 ?
 
Buffet said:
He averages,

17 against BD/WI/SL/ZIM
37 against Aus/NZ/SA/Eng

He needs to step up against good teams.
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He is a minnow basher, much like the rest of the overrated clique, as simple as that. A decent white ball bowler, a bang average red ball bowler.
 
shamaan said:
How many games has starc played compared to shaami and shaheen since 2022 ?
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Since 01 Jan 2022

Mitchell Starc - 51 games
Shaheen Afridi - 45 games
Mohammad Shami - 37 games

This is for all Tests/ODI/T20s combined. Both Starc and Shami are 10 years older too than Shaheen. I expect Shaheen to be able to easily manage this load at 23 years of age.

As for leagues, Shaheen is himself responsible for playing all the leagues. He could easily sit out if he wants to but he doesn't.
 
Shaheen should have maybe bowled a no ball after bursting onto the scene snd got banned for 5 years.

That's what you need to do as a left armer to get respect in Pakistan.
 
Shaheen's is not even 10% looking like a premier frontline fast bowler. Today he bowled at a pace of 132-134 like a medium pacer. Totally ineffective without proper line & length
 
He is clearly not the same bowler after his injury.

I don't know if he'll ever be the same bowler again, but let's hope he does.
 
His performances since his comeback from knee injury have dipped remarkably. Even before the injury his performances against the top teams like India, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa in ODI's and Test Matches were nothing to write home about and his averages have been masked by performances against the likes of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, West Indies.

He has been brutally exposed in the abscence of Naseem Shah who had helped to make him effective. For a very tall 6'8 fast bowler, i find it shocking that he doesn't scare the batsman at all with his height and bounce, all i see is a bowler who consistently pitches the ball up going for the glory ball and when there is no swing on offer, he has no other ideas or skills on what to do.

His pace has now declined from 140-142 km/hr to 128 km/hr. Excessive amounts of T-20 cricket have ruined him and it doesn't help that he is now Shahid Afridi's son in law therefore his off the field distractions have gone through the roof as well now.

It was a mistake to give him the T-20 captaincy. There are video footages where in the Pak Afghanistan game in the WC, he had pushed Babar after getting a wicket and in the premier world cup format he was trundling in at 129-133 km/hr.

The selectors need to drop him based on present form and fitness.
 
He needs to be dropped based on present form. Australia dumped Peter Siddle when his speeds dropped from 138-142 km/hr to 127-130 km/hr and Mitchel Johnson was man enough to retire immediately when his speeds had declined. Shaheen has been pampered excessively and too much T20 cricket has ruined him.
 
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