'His searing pace and variations keep a batter judging' - Babar Azam opens up on battle with Shaheen Afridi in PSL

Talking about the young pacer, who has created waves in international cricket with his pace and swing, Karachi Kings and Pakistan skipper, Babar Azam, terms potential battles with Shaheen Afridi as a “thrilling proposition”.

Since his debut, Shaheen Afridi, the most recent entry into Pakistan’s long-standing history of producing quality fast bowlers, has been terrorizing batting units across with world with his incredible ability to swing the bowl both the ways, searing yorkers and deceptive cutters.

Pakistan skipper Babar recently opened up about his upcoming battles with the young gun in the Pakistan Super League 2022. While Babar is the skipper of the Karachi Kings side, Shaheen is the captain of the Lahore Qalandars side. Talking about his national side teammate’s skills, Babar lauded Shaheen’s ability to trouble the batsmen by swinging the ball both ways and rattling up the batters with his pace.

“His searing pace, ability to bring the ball back and guileful variations keep a batter judging. He has a passion to learn, and over the years, has developed this phenomenal ability to adapt to conditions quickly,” Babar added.

The Karachi Kings skipper termed the Qalandars skipper as a quick learner and praised his control while using variations in his bowling.

Shaheen Afridi made his debut for his national side in 2018 at the age of 18. Since then, he has risen to become one of the mainstays of the Pakistani bowling attack. The left-arm quick holds the record for being the youngest player to take a five-wicket haul in a World Cup (at the age of 19).

He achieved the feat in the 2019 ODI World Cup against Bangladesh, with figures of 6/35. Shaheen was incredibly impressive in T20 World Cup last year, especially his spell of 3/31 against arch-rivals India, which included the wickets of key Indian batters KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

Wearing the iconic No. 10 jersey, earlier donned by the former Pakistani star all-rounder Shahid Afridi, Shaheen has garnered appreciation not from fans but experts worldwide as well. He was recently awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy and was also named  ICC Men’s Cricketer of the year.