‘Real shocker, made me laugh’ - Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram question Shaheen Afridi’s commitment to Test cricket

Ace pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi has taken a break from the ongoing third Test against Australia to manage his workload. Notably, the management indicated the same after losing the opening Test, as they clarified that the cricketer might take a break if they lost the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. The decision has been taken with the T20 World Cup in mind, especially with Shaheen being the captain in the shortest format.

Even though the 23-year-old mentioned that the team management decided to give him a break, former cricketer Wasim Akram pointed out that it was the pacer who decided to opt-out. Alongside his former bowling partner Waqar Younis, Wasim questioned Shaheen’s commitment to Test cricket and stated that people eventually forget about T20 matches but it’s Test cricket that is talked about for decades.

“Straight after this there are five T20s in New Zealand, and Shaheen's the captain. But T20 cricket, who cares? I understand it's there for entertainment and it's there for financial gain for cricket boards, for players, but cricketers should know that Test cricket is the ultimate,” Wasim said on Fox Cricket.

“If we talk about what happened 20 years ago in this Test in Sydney, nobody knows what happened last night in T20. That's the difference. These guys have to understand and learn, if you want to be a great of the game or do you want to be a millionaire. You can become both but with a little more sense,” the 57-year-old added.

I was expecting him to be a part of this Test: Waqar

After Wasim claimed that it was Shaheen’s decision to back out of the third Test, Waqar mentioned that it was a shocker for him as he was expecting the pacer to feature in the match, especially when Pakistan are trailing by 0-2 and are on a verge of a white-wash.

“Made me laugh. That's a real shocker for me because I was expecting him to be a part of this Test match because he looked good in the previous match. He started feeling like the old Shaheen Afridi and started to swing the ball and the pace was getting better,” Waqar said.