Inzamam-ul-Haq Rips Into Shaheen Afridi Despite Bowler Scoring 34-ball 55 In PSL

Shaheen Afridi has been a busy man in the Pakistan Super League, becoming a constant topic of chatter among fans and experts. His decision to promote himself up the order hasn't been well received by some former cricketers and even the legendary Inzamam-ul-Haq had a critical analysis of the southpaw despite him scoring 55 runs off 34 balls for Lahore Qalandars against Quetta Gladiators. Afridi stitched a 91-run partnership with Abdullah Shafique for the 4th wicket, but his team went on to lose the match.

"This partnership between Abdullah Shafique and Shaheen Afridi... if you look at the scorecard, then it looks very impressive, scoring 55 off 34 balls and the other scoring 59 off 39 balls. But the scorecard doesn't do justice to it. They played all the overs - almost 14 - and all you could take the total to was 167, whereas it should have been 200-plus. Did anyone feel that Lahore will be able to win from here? Or will Lahore defend it?" asked a miffed Inzamam on Suno News.

With Abdullah in the middle since the powerplay and Shaheen from the 10th over, Inzamam feels the duo should've scored runs at a much-faster rate. A total of 166 for the loss of just 4 wickets isn't justifiable, as far as the former Pakistan captain is concerned.

Inzamam further said that had specialist T20 batters like Sikandar Raza and David Wiese played as many deliveries as Shaheen and Shafique did, the score would've been much higher.

"Shaheen coming in to bat at No. 5 but scoring at that pace is not good for the team. Had specialists like David Wiese and Sikandar Raza faced 34 balls, the score could have been better. He should've put pressure on Abdullah Shafique too, asking him "bhai... tu tez khel (boss, score faster). If a batter is playing from the first over to the last, and score 60 runs, it isn't acceptable. They need to take care of one big fact. If you start getting into individual efforts, the team's cause will go for a toss," asserted Inzamam.

Topics mentioned in this article

Lahore Qalandars Shaheen Afridi Abdullah Shafique Inzamam-ul-Haq Cricket