Pakistani players streamed into Chinnaswamy Stadium on a mild Wednesday afternoon, looking every inch unhurried and chatting loudly with each other, except for one. Shaheen Shah Afridi was all business and walked straight to the center in the company of bowling coach Morne Morkel. The Pakistan camp might have heaved a sigh of relief seeing that the strapped left-arm pacer showed no sign of the exhausting fever that had gripped the team upon arrival in the city as he was fully engaged in the ensuing net session .
Afridi took a good look at the pitch, which had a green tint, before starting the day with stretching and some warm-up exercises.
Soon, the 23-year-old moved himself to the middle nets and started bowling with short runs as Morkel watched him from close range.
As the session progressed, Afridi picked up the pace and bothered the right-handed hitters with sharp, inbound pitches.
Later, he also tried his hand at hitting, facing his teammates and a few throwdowns from the sidearm specialist.
But the entire exercise has a deeper meaning for Pakistan as Afridi is expected to take charge of the team’s charge at the World Cup in the absence of the injured Naseem Shah.
However, it was not yet delivered on the expected lines. Afridi has taken four wickets from three matches and his economy rate of 6.31 is the second-worst among Pakistani bowlers after leg-spinner Shadab Khan, 6.55.
His average for the tournament is 34.75, and both statistics are significantly higher than his career marks: 5.51 and 23.87.
Not so long ago, Afridi was a formidable presence with the new ball, wreaking serious havoc in the Powerplay segment and robbing opponents of their early momentum.
But during this tournament, Afridi looked nothing like his angry avatar. Coupled with his reduced efficiency, Pakistani management will be even more concerned about the sharp drop in Afridi’s pace.
Afridi is a bowler who can touch close to 150 clicks and has only crossed the 140 mark on occasion during this World Cup as batsmen tackled him with consummate ease on the slower Indian pitches.
The match against India in Ahmedabad was a good example of this. Rohit Sharma tapped and pulled Afridi for fours and sixes, and Virat Kohli unfurled a delightful cover drive while leaning on his front foot, and those were the shots a fast bowler would hate to see played against him.
But here Afridi had no real answers as his first four overs yielded 32 runs and the wicket of Shubman Gill would hardly have offered any relief.
“His problem seems to be more in the mind than in his skills. The ability won’t go away after one or two matches. Maybe he’s trying things too much, maybe the absence of Naseem (Shah) has affected him a bit, with who he has a good new ball partnership.
“He just needs to relax and not think about his role and external matters. Just concentrate on bowling and I think he will be fine,” said Waqas Ahmed, bowling coach of Afridi’s PSL team Lahore Qalandars.
Pakistan will be hoping Afridi will be at his best against Australia on Friday, and that will be imperative for them after a defeat to India.
Mir for Shadab?
Besides Afridi, Pakistan will also be concerned about the form of Shadab, who picked just two wickets from three matches while leaking a lot of runs.
The disappointing Shahdab is a major reason for Pakistan’s inability to control rivals in the middle overs.
In that context, they might think of giving Usama Mir, the 27-year-old leg-spinner from Sialkot, a chance.
Mir, who has fully recovered from the fever, has played eight ODIs and taken 11 wickets so far.
Meanwhile, all Pakistani players except reserve wicketkeeper Mohamad Haris attended the day’s practice session.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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