Abu Dhabi: The Pakistan selectors may have given Shaheen Shah Afridi a cold shoulder for the Test series against Australia despite his fine show with the ball in the Asia Cup, but the strapping 18-year-old is clearly knocking on their doors. Afridi, on the eve of Pakistan’s first Test in Dubai, took his franchise team Lahore Qalandars to a memorable 15-run win over Albie Morkel’s Multiply Titans to clinch the inaugural Abu Dhabi T20 tournament at the Shaikh Zayed Stadium on Saturday night.
The Titans needed 23 off the last two overs and Afridi bowled a sensational penultimate over, conceding only three runs and also bowled main man Heino Kuhn. And all this happened with Pakistan cricket’s chief selector Inzamam Ul Haq watching from the team dug out.
Although Haq refrained from speaking on the showing of Afridi with Gulf News, he would have definitely taken a firm note of the telling performance from the youngster.
Lahore Qalandars coach Aaqib Javed, however, minced no words in speaking his mind. “Shaheen should have been playing in this Test series against Australia and I don’t know why they have delayed him. He should have been there as I feel he is very much ready to be out there,” asserted Javed. “Shaheen is the future and nobody can stop him. He is tall, aggressive and has shown tremendous promise and wicket-taking ability. It is just a matter of time he will be there.”
A beaming Afridi, after the trophy ceremony, said he was happy to take the responsibility on himself and lead from the front in the bowling attack. “I had worked really hard on my bowling and thankfully everything came well. I can only keep performing and that’s my aim to do well whenever I get an opportunity. That’s what I did during the Asia Cup and here again,” he said.
“If I keep performing, my time will come. I just have to keep performing. I’m here for almost four weeks now and was well versed with the heat and conditions here. I had performed well for Pakistan and in the domestic circuit and that all helped today. We had worked really well on the yorkers and it came good,” added Afridi, who finished with figures of two for 28.
Titans captain Morkel also heaped praise on the young bowler: “Shaheen Afridi was brilliant in that penultimate over. He didn’t miss his yorkers and it was reversing miles, which made it so tough. Credit to him. They bowled well in the last six or seven overs and put us under immense pressure.”
