Shaheen Shah Afridi opened up on the reasons why he was rested for Pakistan’s third and final Test against Australia at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground.
Before the New Year’s Test, former pacer Waqar Younis slammed the Pakistan team management for leaving out Shaheen. Sajid Khan got a chance in the playing XI in place of Shaheen.
However, Shaheen said that the management took the call to ‘managing my workload’ after he bowled ‘a lot of overs’ in the first two Tests in Perth and Melbourne.
“I played two games, and a lot of overs to be honest. They’re just managing my workload, the medical team and team management decided to take a rest for this (Test),” Shaheen was quoted as saying to Channel 7 at Lunch on Day 1.
Shaheen picked up eight wickets in the first two Tests, including a four-wicket haul in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Shaheen, in the meantime, also rued the missed chances on the field in the ongoing Australian tour. In the MCG Test, Shaheen was hard done by in the first innings after Abdullah Shafique dropped a simple catch in the slip cordon to give David Warner a lifeline.
“I think that I can take more wickets, but unfortunately, catches win matches, and unfortunately we missed those opportunities on the field most of the time. It has been a good tour so far and the last game that we played was quite awesome. As a bowling unit, and as a team, we gave our best, the result was not in our hands, but we tried,” Shaheen stated.
Pakistan, captained by Shan Masood, are currently trailing the series 0-2, having lost their last 18 Tests on Australian soil.
