Pakistan are out of the ICC Champions Trophy in just 6 days. They were one of the top contenders for the title because of home conditions, but the players never looked settled in all the departments of the game. The likes of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Shah Afridi, the three senior players, were found wanting against New Zealand and India.
The two defeats sealed their exit from the global event. Shaheen, who was among the best fast bowlers in the world, has lost his match-winning ability since suffering a knee injury a couple of years ago. Since then, his speed has come down, and the variations are missing.
He clean-bowled Rohit Sharma and also dismissed Hardik Pandya in the marquee clash but ended up conceding 74 runs from 8 overs. In the previous game against New Zealand, he went wicketless despite giving away 68 runs in 10 overs.
His form has impacted the team in a big way, and once the irreplaceable star was dropped from the Test team and T20I squad. Legendary Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram pointed out the weakness of the speedster.
“He hasn’t learned how to bowl outswing on a consistent basis. He has only two types of deliveries. Either he will bowl a yorker or keep straight. The world knows about his bowling now, and the batters are prepared to take on him. He doesn’t know how to take the ball away from the batter,” Wasim Akram said.
Afridi had requested the selectors not to consider him for the Test series against South Africa as he wanted to prepare for the Champions Trophy. With the left-arm pacer failing to provide regular breakthroughs in the CT, the selection panel is likely to drop him from the future series.