Pakistan coach Jason Gillespie seemed a bit reluctant to say that they have dropped Shaheen Afridi. Rather, he mentioned Shaheen working on some things and looking to be more effective. With this, the Aussie veteran gave an insight into Shaheen, who will miss out on the second Test against Bangladesh.
“Shaheen’s missed out this game, we’ve had a good conversation with him, and he fully understands and appreciates the thinking behind it. Shaheen’s been given some feedback. He’s working on some things with his bowling to be as effective as he possibly can be.” Gillespie said in a press conference.
It is worth mentioning that Shaheen Afridi’s form in the last one year in Test cricket doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. Besides, the pace has also seen a dip since his comeback from injury.
Changes to the Pakistan squad ahead of the second Test
Pakistan faced the most humiliating defeat at home and several players have criticized their management for such a bad loss and facing a losing streak at home of nearly 1300 days.
The first Rawalpindi Test was played between the two sides, where Bangladesh went on to secure their first-ever red-ball victory against Pakistan in the host nation. The spinners took on a perfect show as Bangladesh clinched the match by 10 wickets.
After facing criticism, Pakistan recalled their only red-ball specialist spinner, Abrar Ahmed, back for the second Test after their all-pace attack failed miserably in the first Test. Also, Aamir Jamal, who was earlier reported to be injured, was supposed to make a comeback while Kamran Ghulam received his maiden Test call.
On the eve of the second Test to be held on 30th August, Pakistan released a 12-man squad that excluded their ace pacer, Shaheen Shah Afridi. Afridi has endured poor form from the Australian tour on pace-favoring tracks to the home Test loss to Bangladesh, where he had figures of 2/96, averaging 41 in Tests.
All these have probably led to him being dropped from the side. However, the head coach has given a statement of Shaheen working hard to improve his standards and get back on track ahead of a busy campaign for Pakistan, where he would have a big role to play.
