In-form Shaheen eyes more successes

LAHORE: Pakistan’s young fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi says he wants to achieve more success after his superb six-wicket show in a recent T20 Blast match that featured four wickets in as many balls.

Representing Hampshire, left-armer Shaheen claimed a magnificent 6-19 — which was also his county’s best-ever T20 bowling figures — against Middlesex at the Rose Bowl, Southampton last Sunday. The Pakistan pacer’s brilliant show enabled Hampshire to end their losing streak and record a much-needed 20-run victory in the match.

Talking to reporters in Lahore on Wednesday, the 20-year-old Shaheen, who returned home after playing the T20 Blast tournament in England, said it was a proud moment for him and the country that he heard that no one had taken six wickets for Hampshire in a T20 game, including four in a row.

“But for me this is not the end, I want to achieve more such achievements for my country,” the lanky pacer from Landi Kotal said.

Shaheen, who has bowled pretty well in all three formats of the game for Pakistan, said though it was not easy to play in all formats, he wanted to remain fit to cash in on every playing opportunity.

Responding to a notion that some experts reckoned that Shaheen should not play continuous cricket and needed some gaps in between games to keep himself fully fit, Shaheen said he was trying to keep himself fit with extra hard work.

While acknowledging that it was not easy to play cricket in a bio-secure environment for such a long time, Shaheen said the Pakistan players during the recently-concluded tour of England enjoyed the action passing their time like a family.

Shaheen, who grabbed 35 wickets in 11 Tests, 40 wickets in 19 ODIs and 18 scalps in 15 T20 Internationals since bursting onto the international stage in 2018, admitted that he needed to improve his batting noting at crucial junctures the team required contribution from tailenders too.

The fast bowler said he was now focusing on the National T20 Cup starting in Multan on Sept 30.

Later on Wednesday, the paceman left for Multan to participate in the said domestic event.