Pakistan’s bowling coach Shaun Tait heaped praises for ace pacer Shaheen Afridi and called him a “world-class bowler”. He also revealed that the top batsmen around the world are intimidated by the left-hand pacer and do not want to face him.
In a podcast, Tait said, “Sometimes it is not even his [Shaheen] pace, sometimes it’s about his presence, standing at the top of his mark, and world’s finest batters think they don’t want to face this bowler”
“The way the crowd gets involved when he is bowling is all that theater. Most right-handers know they will be tested with an in-swinger but still, they don’t have any answers to it,” he added.
Shaheen Afridi has emerged as the leader of the Pakistan bowling attack in recent years. The left-arm pacer has established himself as a consistent wicket-taker and a death-over specialist. He has bagged 204 wickets for Pakistan across all formats. The 22-year-old was also named as ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year in 2021 and won the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.
The speedster has been playing consistently for the last few months and even took time out of his hectic schedule to represent Middlesex in the 2022 County Championship. He led the Lahore Qalandars to their first PSL championship in February by beating the defending champions Multan Sultans.
Shaheen rose to prominence with his match-winning performance against arch-rivals India in the T20 World Cup 2021. He destroyed India’s batting line-up and sent the top order, which included the likes of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli, cheaply to the pavilion.
Tait was appointed as the bowling coach of Pakistan in February 2022 and will hold the position until February 2023. In the podcast, the player-turned-coach said that he loves his present job and hopes to contribute to Pakistan’s excellent bowling unit. He also mentioned that he is “learning a lot on the job” and that Shaheen’s bowling is something he closely admires.
With the T20 World Cup set to take place in Tait’s home country Australia later this year, it will be intriguing to see how Tait prepares his team for the big tournament.
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