Pakistan head coach Jason Gillespie explained why they left pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi out of their squad for the second Test match against Bangladesh.
In a press conference, Jason Gillespie explained the reasons behind Pakistan leaving out Shaheen Shah Afridi from their 12-member squad for the second Test match against Bangladesh, to begin at Rawalpindi from August 29.
“Shaheen’s missed out this game. We’ve had a good conversation with him, and he fully understands and appreciates the thinking behind it,” explained Gillespie.
“Shaheen’s been given some feedback. He’s working on some things with his bowling to be as effective as he possibly can be. He’s working really well with Azhar Mahmood. We want to see Shaheen at his best because we've got a lot of cricket in all formats and Shaheen's going to play a really big role in that.”
Shaheen’s numbers in Test cricket – 115 wickets in 30 matches at 27.08 – make impressive reading. At the same time, he is yet to impress against Australia (22 wickets in seven Tests at 38.40), New Zealand (nine in three at 43.77), or England (five in three at 51.60), and has not played against India.
Since January 1, 2022, Shaheen has 29 wickets from nine Tests at 36.55. Since January 1, 2023, they look even worse – 16 wickets in five Tests at 40.81. He is not as quick as he used to be either.
Shaheen Shah Afridi ❌
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) August 29, 2024
Pakistan have named a 12-player squad for the second Test against Bangladesh, and there’s a big name missing.
Read more ➡️ https://t.co/CDnvXjy3Ke pic.twitter.com/ASzPrns5sq
Gillespie also pointed out that Shaheen became a father on the fourth day of the first Test match: “Shaheen’s had an interesting last couple of weeks. He’s a new father. We’re seeing an opportunity where we’re able to allow him to go and spend some time with his family as well.”
Pakistan had gone in without a specialist spinner in the first Test match. The decision backfired when they first conceded a 117-run first-innings lead to Bangladesh, then collapsed to 146 against the Bangladesh spinners, Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz. As a result, Bangladesh beat Pakistan for the first time in Test cricket.
On their bowling combination for the second Test, Gillespie responded: “We’re looking at what our best combination is this game. We’ll look at conditions and decide what the best makeup of our bowling attack looks like.
“We haven’t been able to look at the surface much because of the weather, so we wanted to name 12. We want to be as informed as we possibly can before we select the side we think is best capable of taking 20 wickets.”
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