Injuries of present-day fast bowlers have become a never-ending issue. Playing multiple series in a calendar year takes a toll on their muscles, resulting in unfortunate injuries.
India’s Jasprit Bumrah and Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi unquestionably come among such pacers whose cricketing career has been hampered due to injury-related absence. While Bumrah is still out of the sport, Afridi has just returned to action in the Pakistan Super League.
The Pakistani pacer’s knee injury turned out to be a crucial factor for his country in the T20 World Cup Final last year. Referring to that, former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar lashed out at Afridi for not trying his best to return to the field when the team required his service.
Shaheen Afridi picked up the injury ahead of the Asia Cup last year. He missed the entire tournament before making a comeback in the ICC T20 World Cup. His inclusion added some extra strength to the Pakistani bowling unit. The Babar Azam-led side were looking like a deserving candidate for the trophy, and, following some gutsy performances, they secured their place in the final.
During the summit game against England, Afridi had to pull himself out of the ground after suffering from pain in his previously-injured knee. The 22-year-old managed to bowl only 2.1 overs, while Pakistan had to defend a mere target of 138 runs. He had already picked up one wicket and was maintaining a good economy rate before his knee condition deteriorated. Following his mid-way departure, Pakistan went on to endure a five-wicket defeat.
A number of former and current cricketers backed Shaheen Afridi and wished for his speedy recovery. However, Shoaib Akhtar, while speaking on Suno TV, said that Afridi could have bowled his remaining overs as his team needed that support. Akhtar said if he was in that place, he would make sure to do so. “If I had bowled those 12 deliveries, I would have become the biggest celebrity in Pakistan- a national hero,” he noted.
According to Akhtar, he would have taken injections in order to erase the pain but would definitely complete the assignment. He explained, “I would come to play. I would fall, fracture my knee, and have blood flowing down my face, but I would get up, take an injection, and resume bowling.”
In the end, Akhtar highlighted the importance of a World Cup match saying, “Many would say that you’d break your knee. You will die. I would have stated that it is better to die but the World Cup is more significant. My knee would have been broken. I could fix it later but the moment would never come again.”
After the incident, Shaheen Afridi took a long period to fully recover. He missed a number of major series on home soil. Currently, the left-arm quick has now been leading his PSL team Lahore Qalandar, and has already bagged three wickets in his first three appearances in the tournament.
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