Shahid Afridi was spotted donning a new-look helmet – one with the top bar of the grille removed – in the opening PSL play-off game between the Multan Sultans and the Karachi Kings.
Coming in with his side floundering on 80-5 in the 13th over, Afridi scrambled a run-a-ball 12 before holing out to Alex Hales on the long-on boundary.
But it was his unusual helmet that caught the eye of both viewers on social media and members of the commentary box, with some – including Sky Sports Cricket assistant producer Tanzil Khawaja – voicing concern for Afridi’s safety.
Is it me or is Afridi’s helmet grill really dangerous?
Seems to be very open around the eyes and mouth area 🤨#PSL #MSvKK
— Tanzil Khawaja (@TanzilKhawaja) November 14, 2020
On commentary, former international cricketers Bazid Khan and Jonty Rhodes discussed Afridi’s new helmet with Khan intitially remarking: “He [Afridi] has got an interesting grille on Jonty, I’ve never seen that one before.”
Rhodes responded by saying that he saw the logic behind the change of kit. “I played a couple of months ago and I had an issue with the top bar of the grille,” said Rhodes. “I understand where he’s at, I couldn’t see through it either. So I did get mine ground down by from a safety point of view, I was facing blokes like this.”
