Watch: Playing a competitive red-ball match for the first time since July 2022, Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up 3-37 during a tour match on Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka.

Shaheen Shah Afridi last played a first-class match on Pakistan’s 2022 tour of Sri Lanka. He had gone into that tour on the back of a three-match for Middlesex, where he picked up 14 wickets at 25.42 apiece.

He played in the Galle Test match, where he claimed 4-58 in the first innings to bowl out the hosts for 222 before Abdullah Shafique made a timeless – literally and otherwise – 160 not out to help Pakistan win by four wickets.

Injuries have kept Shaheen out of red-ball cricket since then. However, he did play in the T20 World Cup, where he picked up an injury in the final that Pakistan lost against England.

He returned for the ODIs in the home series against New Zealand last winter. He led the Lahore Qalandars to a PSL title, and has featured in the T20 Blast for Nottinghamshire.

However, all that had been in limited-overs cricket. For that, he had to wait for Pakistan’s ongoing tour of Sri Lanka, where they will play two Test matches, at Galle and the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.

Ahead of that, Pakistan are playing a tour match against the Sri Lanka Cricket President’s XI at Hambantota. Taking new ball, Shaheen found his rhythm straight away.

In the 27th over, Shaheen had home captain Kamindu Mendis caught behind with a ball that moved slightly away. And in the 37th, Ahan Wickramasinghe slashed at one, and Shafique held the catch at first slip.

However, he saved his best for Kavisha Anjula. The ball pitched on leg stump; Anjula, rooted to the crease, did not account for the movement as the ball hit leg and middle.

Bowling in short bursts, Shaheen finished with figures of 12-3-37-3 as the SLCP XI made 196. Opening batting, Oshada Fernando was seventh out, for a 127-ball 113 made out of 168 scored during his stay at the crease.

The Pakistanis then rode on Shan Masood’s 67-ball 83 to race to 160-3 by stumps on day one. Babar Azam (14) and Saud Shakeel (0) were the overnight batters.

Watch Shaheen Shah Afridi take three wickets on red-ball comeback:

.@iShaheenAfridi took three wickets on his return to red-ball cricket as Pakistan dismissed SLC Board XI for 196 in 46.3 overs on the opening day of the two-day practice match

Match report ➡️ https://t.co/1juXHgx2aM#SLvPAK pic.twitter.com/nHTquzC5Zg

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) July 11, 2023