File photo of Shaheen Shah Afridi bowling to India batters© AFP
India start their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign against Pakistan in Melbourne on October 23. While India have been dented with injuries to top players, Pakistan have been bolstered by the return of Shaheen Afridi, who was out for a lengthy duration due to injury and subsequent rehabilitation. The left-arm pacer has often proved quite a handful for the Indian top-order in the past. While his match fitness will be assessed in the coming days, if he gets fit in time for the India game, he might prove to be a tricky customer.
Former Gautam Gambhir spoke on how the Indian batters should try and keep Shaheen at bay. “When it comes to Shaheen Afridi, don’t look to survive. Look to score runs from him. Because the moment you look to survive, everything becomes really small. Whether it’s your backlift, whether it’s your footwork, and obviously, in T20 cricket you can’t look to survive,” Gautam Gambhir said on Star Sports.
“I know that he can be dangerous with the new ball, but again, irrespective, the Indian batters need to score more runs, get into better positions, and look to time the balls rather than to hit it. India will be fine because India has got the quality in their top 3 or 4 who can definitely take on Shaheen Shah Afridi.”
Irfan Pathan, former India allrounder, said: “Look, one thing is clear. When you play at the MCG, the straight boundaries are not that big. It’s the side boundaries that are massive. Obviously, India needs to be smart, especially the batting. Probably, it will be difficult to hit the side boundaries, so they have to play the gaps and probably convert the twos into threes and ones into twos, because running between the wickets will very important.”
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