DUBAI – Australian former cricketer and Pakistan’s batting coach Matthew Hayden on Wednesday hailed Pakistani speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi as Pakistan eye final in ICC T20 World Cup.
Pakistani fast bowlers are breathing fire in ongoing mega-event particularly Afridi who has been dangerous with the new ball and canny at the death throughout the Super 12 stage.
Addressing a presser, Matthew Hayden heaped praise on the young pacer saying he has the ability to destroy any team’s batting line-up. He termed Afridi’s spell against Indian players ‘impressive’ saying the skills of 21-year-old bamboozled Indian batsman KL Rahul.
“Quality pace is most certainly part of Afridi’s arsenal and the white-ball does not swing for a long time in T20 cricket, in particular, it seems to be a number of balls, not a number of overs,” he said.
The former celebrated cricketer said “those numbers of balls can be destructive, as we saw in his delivery against Indian player, one of the best balls I have seen ever apart from last two-three months.
Afridi got that ability, like every good striker, to be able to commit to a wonderful pace which means his preparation, recovery, and just the ability, in general, to be delivering fast deliveries a day in and day out,” he added.
Commenting on the current progress by the Men in Green, he said he was quite happy with the national squad while mentioning that he had only spent less time with Pakistani cricketers, but learned that they were all really impressive cricketers.
Pakistani team is fully capable to play good cricket against any team in the world, he said while cautioning Shaheens that the Finch-led squad is not an easy opponent.
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Having experience of around two decades, he said he had played for the Australian cricket team for years hence he knows them very well.
Pakistan and Australia will face each other at the Dubai International Stadium in the second semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup. Babar-led squad will look to continue the momentum from the Super 12 stage while Finch’s men are now just two wins away from tasting T20 World Cup glory for the very first time.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/09-Nov-2021/england-to-take-on-new-zealand-in-t20-world-cup-s-first-semi-final-today
