Shaheen Afridi doesn’t want to rest himself because he might have fear of losing his place to a youngster: Junaid Khan

The 21-year-old left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi has established himself as a mainstay of Pakistan’s bowling department. The speedster made his debut for the Men in Green in 2018 and since then has represented the country in 16 Test matches and 25 ODIs and T20 Internationals each.   

Though the young pacer has delivered stunning performances, many questions have been raised over the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the way they have been handling the workload of the speedster. Shaheen features across all three formats for Paksitan without any real break.

Speaking about the same, veteran Pakistan bowler, Junaid Khan slammed the team management for not providing security to the players regarding their position in the playing XI. Junaid believes that Shaheen is in need of rest but the bowler is hesitant as he fears that he will be replaced by someone else.

“Shaheen Afridi definitely needs rest. The management needs to make sure he doesn’t bowl a lot during the net sessions. Shaheen probably doesn’t want to rest himself because he might have fear of losing his place to a youngster, who might perform in his place. He must be thinking they might drop him from one format if he doesn’t perform in few matches,” said Junaid Khan in an interview with Cricket Pakistan.

We should learn about managing workload from England: Junaid Khan 

“In our culture, even if a player performs for six years and then doesn’t do well in two games, he is replaced by a new player who has done well in only a few games. Everyone forgets that player’s performances for the last six years and instead prefers younger talent. So our players are insecure about losing their place,” added the 31-year-old

Further, Junaid Khan gave an example of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to show PCB how to manage the players. The seamer lauded ECB for their rotation policy. During the England tour of India, the visitors constantly rotated their players to give them rest.

“We should learn about managing workload from England. During their recent Test series against India, they rotated James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Broad and Anderson would rest even after taking five or six wickets in the previous match. That is because they are secure of their place in the team. They know they will play in the future matches,” concluded Khan.