NOTTINGHAM: Pakistan’s premier fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi says he’s fully fit and looking forward doing well in the Test series against Sri Lanka later this month.
The left-arm pacer was in action for Nottinghamshire Outlaws in the T20 Blast tournament and spoke exclusively to Geo News at Trent Bridge stadium before leaving for Pakistan to join the national squad.
Shaheen last played a Test match for Pakistan almost a year ago and that was also against Sri Lanka where he sustained a knee injury which forced him out of action for a long period of time.
However, Shaheen has rebuked claims pointing towards his match fitness and urged people to forget about the injury he sustained as for him it's a matter of the past.
“I am fully fit that’s why I’m back in the Test team. If I haven’t been fully match fit my name wouldn’t have been in the squad. I will by playing for Pakistan’s national team not for a club level team,” said Shaheen.
“I’m looking forward to playing Test cricket again for Pakistan and I need public support. I play for my country with real pride. No matter if I’m injured or not when I’m in the team I always strive to give my hundred percent for the team,” he added.
While playing for Nottinghamshire Outlaws in the T20 Blast, Shaheen claimed 22 wickets in 14 matches of the group stage at an average of 20.81 and a strike-rate of 14.86. But his greatest feat in the tournament came in the penultimate match of the group stage against Birmingham Bears when he wreaked havoc and claimed four wickets in his first over and making a new record of becoming the first bowler in the history of T20 cricket to do so.
“It is a great achievement to take four wickets in this manner in any form of cricket. Although I have taken four wickets before in an over and that was also in the T20 Blast but for me it’s also the first time I took four wickets in the first over. Indeed, this is an unforgettable moment of my life. Unfortunately, we still lost that game and I feel sorry about that but it’s part of the play,” he said.
Speaking about his overall performance in the T20 Blast tournament, Shaheen was undoubtedly very happy and termed it extremely satisfying.
“In my opinion in many matches I performed really well. Can’t say that these performances were bad or average because in fact they were good. This format of cricket is not easy anywhere in the world as the pace of the game is really fast,” he said.
“T20 Blast is well known for high scoring matches specially at our home ground Trent Bridge which has a history of very highly scoring games because of the short square boundaries. But I’ve enjoyed my time here and spent real good times with Nottinghamshire Outlaws,” he added.
Shaheen also shed light on the ICC Cricket World Cup match against India on October 15 in Ahmedabad.
“We should stop thinking and concentrating on just India vs Pakistan match because that’s just one game. We need to focus our thoughts on how to win the World Cup and as a team this will be our aim,” he said.
“We are very hopeful that we will do well first in the Test series against Sri Lanka, then Asia cup and then World Cup. Our goal is to perform our best in all of these upcoming events and try to win all of them,” he concluded.
- Shaheen Afridi