ICC World Cup 2019 | Shaheen Afridi is only 19 and will keep improving with age, writes Waqar Younis

Coming into the tournament, Shaheen Afridi was named by the ICC as one of the five young players with great potential who were making their World Cup debuts. However, he was initially benched and put in rather disappointing performances in his first two matches. His figures of 2/70 against Australia and 1/54 from eight overs against South Africa though not poor, were below expectations considering the potential he has.

However, in the match against New Zealand, he finally rose to the occasion and in a brutal display of pace bowling tore apart their top order. He ended the match with figures 3/28 from ten overs and if not for Babar Azam’s brilliant century, Afridi would have been an obvious choice for the man of the match award.  

“Shaheen Shah Afridi is only 19 so he will have bad days and super days, against New Zealand, it was definitely the latter. He got his lines right, he was disciplined, he swung the ball and he picked up wickets. That was what set the game up for Pakistan and was great to see,” Waqar younis wrote in his column for the ICC.

“He is still learning the art so he will make mistakes and Pakistan have to be prepared for that. So far he’s only really played T20 and a few Tests and in the game against Australia I thought he looked a little lost. He wasn’t sure what line or length to bowl. Then against South Africa he got a wicket and seemed to gain some confidence. The more he plays, the better he will be because of his age, so I’m hopeful that he will deliver in the coming games,” the legendary pace bowler added.

Pakistan has set the World Cup alight with two brilliant victories and has clawed its way back into the race for a top four spot. However, while this patch of form can help them take a long way, the hype can also backfire if not handled properly, warned Younis.

“The momentum seems to have shifted with these two wins, as well as England losing to Australia.That result gave Pakistan some hope. They knew that if they beat New Zealand they could increase the pressure on England and give themselves a real chance of making the semi-finals. The danger is now that complacency starts to creep in. After beating South Africa and then unbeaten New Zealand, it would be easy to get carried away. They cannot allow that to happen, they need to focus on the next game against Afghanistan and make sure they win,” he wrote.

Even if Pakistan win their remaining two matches, they’ll have to hope England fail to achieve the same or it could be curtains for the Green Army. “They also cannot worry about other results. If Pakistan beat Afghanistan and Bangladesh, they will have done their job, hopefully it will be enough to reach the semi-finals,” wrote Younis.

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