‘Don’t know why we have made such a big deal’ – Shaheen Afridi on talks around excessive workload

Shaheen Afridi. (Photo Source: ICC)

Pakistan’s white-ball coach Gary Kirsten had raised an alarming concern over premier pacer Shaheen Afridi‘s workload recently. Kirsten, who was involved in the commentary panel at the Champions One-Day Cup, made a comment on the workload of the pacer.

However, in a recent discussion, Shaheen gave the reference of arguably two of the most tireless fast bowlers of Pakistan and world cricket to settle the dust around his workload. He also emphasised on cricketers being “mentally fit” to gain the maximum pleasure from whatever quantity of cricket they are playing. 

“If we look at our legendary bowlers from the past, Wasim [Akram] bhai and Waqar [Younis] bhai, they did not have workload issues back then. I don’t know why we have made such a big deal about it for the past year. It all depends on the individual player. You need to be mentally fit and strong to perform; you cannot perform while being lazy. At a time when your body is not reacting the way you want, you need support from the management. There is not much workload but we should enjoy whatever cricket we play,” Shaheen was quoted as saying by Wisden.

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Shaheen has been Pakistan’s workhorse

Amid a few injuries which has provided Shaheen some hiatuses over the past year or so, there is no denying that he has not been involved in a gruelling regime of running in from the top of his mark. The left-arm pacer has bowled 646.1 overs across all forms of professional cricket, which entails the domestic circuit too.

Amongst the other bowlers in the Pakistan men’s team, Naseem Shah occupies the second place with a massive difference in the amount of overs they have bowled, with the young 21-year-old at a figure of 266 overs in the same timeframe.   

Also Read: Gary Kirsten asks players to follow three principles to ‘bring pride back to Pakistan cricket’ 

Despite having seemingly injured his knee in one of the One-Day Cup games while batting for Lions against Dolphins, Shaheen has been picked in the 15-member squad for the first Test against England. The three-match series is scheduled to commence on October 7.