'I am not needed today' - Shahid Afridi responds to a journalist's tweet

The Pakistan team, which is currently in the United Kingdom, turned around their fortunes against England in the first T20I match at Trent Bridge on Friday. While the Pakistani batters were firing guns against the English bowlers, a fan expressed that the team was missing the expertise of Shahid Afridi, a prolific hitter of the ball. Afridi responded in a fashion no one would have expected. 

After losing the ODI series by a margin of 0-3 against a second-string England team, Babar Azam and his team were under a lot of pressure. However, the visiting team completely flipped the narrative over winning the first match of the T20I series against an almost full-strength England T20I team in Nottingham. 

Batting first, Pakistan openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were able to put on an opening stand of 150 runs in just no time to lay down a perfect platform. Azam ended with a score of 85 runs from 49 balls while Rizwan made 63 runs from 41 balls. However, it was the valuable cameos from Shoaib Maqsood (19 off 7), Mohammad Hafeez (24 off 10), and Fakhar Zaman (26 off 8) which stretched the total of Pakistan and took it to 232 for 6. 

I think I am not needed today: Shahid Afridi acknowledges Pakistan’s mammoth batting effort

As the power-hitting was going on, a fan posted an image on Twitter in which a woman was wearing Afridi’s iconic no. 10 jersey. The fan captioned it, “They’re missing you, boss.” After coming across this tweet, the former international cricketer responded by saying that the Pakistan team doesn’t need him today as they are taking care of delivering powerful hits. “Thank you but I think I am not needed today!! enough of BOOM BOOM 232 for 6,” Afridi wrote. 

Thank you but I think I am not needed today!! 😊 enough of BOOM BOOM 232 for 6 🇵🇰 https://t.co/J414IJJhug

— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) July 16, 2021

England eventually tried their best to reach the total but failed, falling short by a margin of 31 runs. Jason Roy gave England a quickfire start, scoring 32 runs from 13 balls. However, it was his wicket which brought Pakistan back into the match. Liam Livingstone kept firing back, keeping England in the game for a long time and tried to take the game deep. 

In an attempt to do so, Livingstone smashed the fastest-ever fifty by an England player in international cricket, off just 17 balls. He notched up his maiden T20I century off just 42 balls, which is now the fastest T20I century for an English player. Despite his knock of 103 runs from 43 balls, Pakistan prevailed by a margin of 31 runs with not a lot substantial from the other England batters. With this win, Pakistan now leads the 3-match series, 1-0.