After being great at bowling, Pakistan’s fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi now wants to use his hitting skills to help the Men in Green win.
“I’m slowly getting better at hitting so I can help Pakistan. “I want to win games for Pakistan no matter where I bat,” Shaheen said on Saturday.
In the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which just ended, the 23-year-old cricketer’s batting skills impressed everyone. He made a total of 133 runs in eight innings, which is a strike rate of 168.35.
Shaheen is looking to make a mark with the bat again while Pakistan gets ready for the limited-overs series against New Zealand at home. During the training camp in Lahore, he was also seen working hard while hitting in the nets.
Shaheen said that he had wanted to try hitting since he was in U19, but he never did. Recently, though, that has changed because he did a lot of hitting practice while he was getting better.
The home series against New Zealand will start on April 14 and have five ODIs and the same number of T20Is.
The Black Caps team left for their tour of Pakistan early this morning (Sunday), before the first Twenty20 International in Lahore. Pakistan will get New Zealand in the early morning hours of April 11.
Pakistan teams T20I: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Zaman Khan
ODI: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haris Sohail, Ihsanullah, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Usama Mir
The T20Is will start at 9pm, and the ODIs will start at 3.30pm.
14 April: 1st T20I, Lahore
2nd T20I, April 15, Lahore
3rd T20I, April 17, Lahore
4th T20I, April 20, Rawalpindi
24 April: 5th T20I, Rawalpindi
27 April: 1st ODI, Rawalpindi
29 Apr – 2nd ODI, Rawalpindi
3 May: Third ODI, Karachi
Karachi, 5 May, 4th ODI
5th ODI, May 7, Karachi