Shaheen Shah Afridi replies the selectors with his performances after being ignored for Australia series

The 18-year-old Shaheen Shah Afridi has been one of the best finds of Pakistan in the recent times. In his teen years, he grabbed the headlines in the U19 World Cup first. Since then, there hasn’t been any looking back for this young man. However, he has got limited opportunities in international cricket thus far.

Shaheen Afridi just featured in 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is for Pakistan despite some stellar domestic performances. Although he did well with the ball in the recently concluded Asia Cup, he wasn’t picked in the side for the Test series against Australia. The left-arm pacer replied to this snub with an unbelievable performance right in front of the chief selector, Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Shaheen Afridi believes that his time will come

In the final of the Abu Dhabi T20 Trophy, Albie Morkel’s Multiply Titans needed 23 runs off the last two overs to clinch the title. However, Afridi bowled an unbelievable penultimate over and gave away just three runs. Furthermore, he also picked the important wicket of Heino Kuhn. This helped his side, Lahore Qalandars bag a 15-run victory. Shaheen Afridi returned with figures of 2 for 28 and Inzaman was right there in the teams’ dugout.

“I had worked really hard on my bowling and thankfully everything came well. I can only keep performing and that’s my aim to do well whenever I get an opportunity. That’s what I did during the Asia Cup and here again,” Afridi said after the awards ceremony.

“If I keep performing, my time will come. I just have to keep performing. I’m here for almost four weeks now and was well versed with the heat and conditions here. I had performed well for Pakistan and in the domestic circuit and that all helped today. We had worked really well on the yorkers and it came good,” he further added.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, however, refrained from speaking about his performance when asked by the Gulf News. Lahore Qalandars coach Aaqib Javed opined that Shaheen should have been picked for the Australia series. He added that he doesn’t understand as to why his selection is being delayed. Albie Morkel also praised the youngster for bowling a tremendous penultimate over.

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