Junaid Khan prefers Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi over India's Jasprit Bumrah

On New Year’s eve, Pakistan’s left-arm fast-medium bowler Junaid Khan was involved in a Q & A (Question and Answer) session on Twitter where he answered a variety of questions including his personal and professional experiences. However, some of the choices made by the seamer left the fans stunned.

During the interaction, a fan asked Junaid to pick one fast bowler between Pakistan’s Shaheen Afridi and India’s Jasprit Bumrah. Surprisingly, Khan preferred Pakistan’s left-arm seamer over the Indian speedster. Notably, Bumrah is one of the fast bowlers to grace the gentleman’s game and is ranked at number three in International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI bowlers rankings.

“Shaheen or bumrah?” a fan questioned. To this Junaid answered, “Shaheen”.

Shaheen

— Junaid khan 83 (@JunaidkhanREAL) December 31, 2020

Jasprit Bumrah and Shaheen Afridi’s career at a glance

Since his debut for India on January 23, 2016, in an ODI game against Australia, the 27-year-old Bumrah has emerged as the mainstay of India’s batting line-up and has scalped a whopping 108 One-day wickets in 67 games at an economy rate of 4.65 along with 59 wickets in 50 games in the shortest format of the game.

The Indian quick had made his maiden appearance in the longest format of the game on January 5, 2018, against South Africa and has picked 76 wickets in 16 Test matches at an economy rate of 2.68 thus far.

Shaheen, on the other hand, in just 20-year-old had made his debut for Men in Green in a One Day game against Afghanistan on September 21, 2018. As of now, Afridi boasts of having 39 Test wickets in 12 matches at an economy of 3.19 along with 45 ODI and 22 T20I scalps in 22 and 18 fixtures respectively at an economy of 5.29 and 7.78.

Bumrah is currently involved in a four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. The right-arm quick had a decent outing in the series so far, scalping 2 wickets in the Adelaide Test followed by a four-wicket haul in the first innings and two wickets in the second innings of the second Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Shaheen Afridi is also playing for Men in Green in the two-match Test series against New Zealand. The left-arm pacer had picked as many as 4 wickets in the first Test in Mount Maunganui.