NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s star fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has found himself in the spotlight after taking a subtle dig at Gary Kirsten‘s comments regarding his workload management.
Kirsten, Pakistan’s white-ball head coach, had recently expressed concerns, noting that Afridi had bowled three times more overs than any other fast bowler globally in the last 18 months.
“Fast bowlers are always under immense pressure to deliver and win games.When we look at our key resources, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah have carried the bulk of the workload for Pakistan across all formats. Shaheen has bowled three times more overs than any other fast bowler in the world over the last 18 months. That’s alarming- you’re bound to wear him down eventually,” Kirsten had earlier said.
Afridi brushed off these concerns in a recent interview as he told Samaa TV, “First of all, if you are saying that I have bowled the most in the world (among bowlers in Test cricket)… but if you look in the past, all our legends bowlers Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, at that time there was no workload issue.”
However, Shaheen’s comments didn’t sit well with fans on social media, many of whom pointed out the difference in fitness and performance levels between him and the former greats.
Some fans highlighted the dip in Shaheen’s pace, from 150 km/h to around 128 km/h, questioning his claims about workload not being an issue.
One fan remarked, “They had peak fitness and were used to bowl 30 overs in a single day of test match with consistent 140+ pace while modern day bowlers like you can only last 4 overs of barely 135+ so there is literally no comparison.”