[VIDEOS] The Shaheen Shah Afridi comeback after injury thread

[Saj]

Stuart Broad with some nice words about Shaheen on Sky Sports:

"Shaheen Shah Afridi is one of my favourite bowlers to watch in the world. He's got such a presence about him when he runs in. I love to see bowlers run in with energy and vibrancy to their run-up. He's got such a natural skill. The way that ball swings back at the right handers is just a pleasure to watch. He's one of these bowlers who I admire hugely and I want to see him do well"

 

[Bewal Express]

SSA looks to be getting sharper by the day. He shouldn't have played in the T20 WC, he was off the pace but not terrible. Since then he has got sharper and in SL he looked good. My criticism is that he is too quick to go around the wicket and looks average at best from around the wicket. He needs to stay over the wicket and not panic when the ball doesn't swing.

 

[MenInG]

First ball, wicket!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1688258616887791616

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Had a good tournament but been hit for six last over

 

[Ali T]

Very exciting. He’s getting better and better everyday and is still young. If he remains injury and controversy free we can expect him to have a huge career.

Needs to work a bit on his death bowling, but with the new ball looks very very threatening .

 

[Saj]

Superb numbers so far in The Hundred:


2-22 from 20 balls (12 dot balls)
1-16 from 20 balls (11 dot balls)
2-24 from 10 balls (3 dot balls) rain shortened match of 40 balls

 

[Saj]

Lethal with the new ball and in the 1st over.

Can't think of many better bowlers in the 1st over currently than Shaheen Shah Afridi. He gets wickets regularly at the start for Pakistan & already some brilliant starts in The Hundred:

First ball today v Oval Invincibles - W
First 2 balls v Manchester Originals - W W

 

[Seen Sheen]

Superb numbers so far in The Hundred:


2-22 from 20 balls (12 dot balls)
1-16 from 20 balls (11 dot balls)
2-24 from 10 balls (3 dot balls) rain shortened match of 40 balls

But bowled a very sloppy last set at the death. Was lucky that he wasn't hit for more than 1 six as only two balls were decent in that set. His lack of improvement at the deaths under crunch situations is worrying. No skill development/enhancement whatsoever, doesn't bowl a bouncer at all (infact at any stage), and just has two deliveries to fall back on; an attempted yorker and a run-of-the-mill off cutter.

 

[zarak]

Can anybody tell me how he is doing speed wise. Is his average speed still 135kph

 

[Hextro]

Can anybody tell me how he is doing speed wise. Is his average speed still 135kph

He was regularly in the low 140s so his average speed was in the high 130s. It's hard to assess because they were showing speed in Mph instead of Kph.

I saw him hitting 89 Mph quite a few times.

 

[Bewal Express]

Has started to look sharp and IA PK will have their talisman back to full fitness

 

[Firebat]

Big match performance. Did it with the new ball, came back at the end and did it with the old ball.

 

[YousafTheBeast]

Bowled well after the rain break, wonder if he could’ve went up to the captain and persuade him to let him bowl out his 10 overs up front.

 

[TheSultan]

He bowled very well after the rain break, but what was noticeable was that he upped his pace after the break.

A sub 137k Shaheen is useless.

I hope he realises this now

 

[daytrader]

"I think both (Virat and Rohit) were crucial wickets, every batter is the same for me. But I think I liked Rohit's wicket better," - Shaheen Shah Afridi after end of innings - Hindustan Times

 

[Third Man]

He bowled very well after the rain break, but what was noticeable was that he upped his pace after the break.

A sub 137k Shaheen is useless.

I hope he realises this now

I think the reason he's slowing it down is that he's finding it difficult to control the new ball. This is a bit of a new phenomenon and I hope he fixes it soon, but I think that's why his pace is down.

 

[ArabKnight]

Babar took a promising talented lethal bowler and ruined him.

Do you really think he is fully fit? He’s been injured 3 times in the past year. What is Babar thinking for playing him for every useless match?

 

[MenInG]

Lahore Qalandars, PCB - hang head in shame.

This is what you have done to Pakistan's best pacer in years.

 

[Savak]

Lahore Qalandars, PCB - hang head in shame.

This is what you have done to Pakistan's best pacer in years.

Or maybe Shaheen is as usual getting exposed playing against the big boys. His average and performances against the top teams has always been average.

The entire world knows that all you have to do is to be prepared for his early full inswinger and he has no other weapon after that.

 

[Kianig89]

Lahore Qalandars, PCB - hang head in shame.

This is what you have done to Pakistan's best pacer in years.

But but but he is captaincy material

 

[MenInG]

But but but he is captaincy material

What's the connection?

I am talking about mismanagement of his injury.

 

[The_KING]

Lahore Qalandars, PCB - hang head in shame.

This is what you have done to Pakistan's best pacer in years.

Shaheen needs to take accountability himself. Why did he keep playing if he wasn’t fully fit?

 

[MenInG]

Looks tired

 

[MenInG]

Shaheen needs to take accountability himself. Why did he keep playing if he wasn’t fully fit?

Players always want to play each game

Management is there for a reason.

 

[Marooned]

Even when he's struggling, he is still the best thing about this team.

 

[Kianig89]

What's the connection?

I am talking about mismanagement of his injury.

How will an injured person captain the side, let him focus on his bowling

 

[Saj]

Ravi Shastri on commentary saying he's not been the same bowler since his ACL injury.

 

[Arzy8]

Ravi Shastri on commentary saying he's not been the same bowler since his ACL injury.

Ravi Shastri is correct, which should serve as a damning indictment for Rauf, Shadab, Nawaz, Mir and co given that Shaheen’s still outperforming them by a significant margin.

 

[MenInG]

Will Pakistan now give Shaheen a break? To assess his fitness etc?

Guess tour of Australia is now looming

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Clearly lacked zip and not in full flow. PCB have oversen abject failure.

Was Rameez that bad in hindsight?.

 

[Marooned]

Yes he is far from his best but still has outperformed the likes of Starc, Hazelwood, Cummins, Boult etc. quite comfortably.

This world cup is a high scoring one and fastbowlers have mostly sufferered. Even Rauf hasn't been as bad as he's made out to be. Starc has averaged 43 so far, wood nearly 80, Hazelwood, Cummins, Boult all over 30 and these are all top bowlers.

Need for some perspective.

 

[Marooned]

Clearly lacked zip and not in full flow. PCB have oversen abject failure.

Was Rameez that bad in hindsight?.

Rameez is pretty much directly responsible for rushing in Shaheen after just 2 months of rehab (when everyone gave a timeline of 4-6 months) for the last t20 WC.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Struggle for the Ace of the Pakistani Bowling Line-up, Shaheen. His post-injury performances are not up to the mark and we can see how much he has declined since he got that injury. Is it just the bad patch or it is still something related to his injury?

Whatever it is, he should be working on it or else he might be out soon.

 

[Sycamore]

Just absolute dross from him. Have some shame, 2 debutants have outbowled you in the most critical phase of the test series. Stop going for the glory ball, start bowling boring line and length like khurram was. Play for the team.

 

[hur rizvi]

I think his best days are far far behind him. No zip, no control, no intelligence in his bowling

 

[Asad T]

He's already bowled 12 overs today, which shows he is fit. Remember how Wahab said he would only make Rauf bowl 10 overs per day so by this standard, Shaheen is as fit as a fiddle

 

[BouncerGuy]

Not a memorable start for Shaheen but he came back with a wicket though later.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

It seems like he is overtrying to get the swing early on in which he mostly throwing half volleys.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Shaheen Shah Afridi speaking during a PCB PODCAST:

“When I got injured, even in that game, I tried a few times to come back to the ground, but I felt that there was some problem, as I was not able to run. But when I was traveling with the team, I got to know about this injury because the World Cup was also very close. There was a gap of two to three months and the main thing was how I could avoid surgery, etc. This was my thought that I would not get my knee operated on, but luckily because of this, at that time if you had a physio doctor, then he would have told you to have surgery, and you would be fine in time.”

“I am taking the names of Cliff, who is the physio, and the trainer of our team, Doctor Jeff, Javed Mughal, and Imtiaz because if I am playing and I am fit, then these five people have helped me throughout this thing. It was a very difficult time when I could not even walk in the room because I was feeling a lot of pain. When your team is playing and at that time the team needs you, so you feel more pain that I should have been a little cautious. But still, the boys in my team say to keep it light in fielding but what to do when you are inside then you should give 100%.”

“That time was difficult when I also came in the World Cup then I could not sprint because I was not getting that kick and even I had not been praying for three months. When I played in the final, I got injured while taking the catch, I had not bent my knee, so if you do not bend for a long time and bend it all at once, then you also get hurt. Because of this, I was feeling pain but Allah tests you in everything and no doubt he has good plans, we do not know anything.”

“In this hard time, the family supported a lot. You should not lose hope in life, you should always fight and if you fight with yourself then it is better for you, you will get good results.”

“I am fully fit and there is no issue at the moment, but small niggles can happen. The back and shoulder, due to bowling mechanics, can become stiff, but the learning process never ends. I still work on all these things so that, God forbid, if an injury occurs tomorrow, I am prepared.”​

 

[pakistani pride]

Biggest question is, is he bowling 140 plus again?

 

[Rana]

Great rotation having played 8 out of 9 games since being stripped from captaincy

 

[shamaan]

Biggest question is, is he bowling 140 plus again?

I don't think he has bowled under 140 in t20s.