NEW DELHI: After being sidelined for the two-Test series against the West Indies at home, Pakistan’s top fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi‘s future in Test match cricket is under a cloud.
Since early 2024, Shaheen has been excluded, sidelined, or “rested” for eight of Pakistan’s previous twelve Test matches.
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The selectors stated that they wanted the left-arm pacer, who has taken 116 wickets in 32 Test matches, to be fresh for the ICC Champions Trophy beginning on February 19, which is why he was not chosen for the two-Test series in South Africa.
It’s interesting that the Pakistan Cricket Board gave Shaheen a NOC without hesitation to play in the Bangladesh Premier League while the Test matches were taking place in South Africa.
Shaheen was benched for the final two Test matches against England at home last year, as well as a Test each against Bangladesh at home and in Sydney, Australia, early in 2024, before the South African trip, where he played and did well in the T20 and ODI series.
In Shaheen’s most recent setback, the selectors named a 15-man team for the two Test matches against the West Indies, excluding Shaheen as well as regular pacers Naseem Shah and Mir Hamza, Muhammad Abbas, and Aamir Jamal, who all participated in the South Africa series in which Pakistan lost 0-2.
Shaheen and Naseem are both being nursed through to the Champions Trophy, which starts on February 19, according to a source close to the selectors.
“The selectors want Shaheen and even Naseem at their best in the Champions Trophy as it is a 50-overs competition and we are defending champions,” the source said.
When informed that Pakistan had never won a Test series in South Africa and had last won a Test there in 2006, he was unable to come up with a logical response. Prior to the ICC event, Pakistan would have benefited greatly from a series triumph or possibly a Test victory with Shaheen in the squad on pace-friendly surfaces.
The source maintained that despite considering Shaheen’s inclusion in the Test team for the South Africa series, the selectors chose to give him a break due to the busy cricket schedule.
“But for the West Indies series there was no purpose taxing him out since both teams are out of this cycle of the World Test Championship final contention and the selectors are planning to have spin pitches in Multan.”
Shaheen, who is only 24 years old, stated in a recent interview that he was prepared to play for Pakistan in all forms, including Test matches.
Additionally, he denied rumors that he had requested that the selectors give him a break for the South Africa match.
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