Shaheen afridi is the most exciting white ball fast bowler in the world.

[Austin 3:!6]

Brilliant bowler. The best fast bowler in the world now and the best left arm seamer I have seen since Wasim Akram.

 

Our trundler brigade should be ashamed of themselves looking at the bowler like Shaheen. That is how you bowl with new ball upfront.

[Grand_Design]

2 hours ago, Axl100mph said:

The fact that you haven't seen him bowl threatening spells in test cricket says more about your laziness rather than him not being good enough because having observed him regularly,  he always gives his maximum effort even in domestic competitions such as the national t20 cup we had recently. 

 

He is a typical straighthearted Pashtun like Rizwan who takes a lot of pride in his performances.  For example in his first season of the PSL when he was picked as a 17 year old kid, he was so distrought with his performances in the first 2 matches where he was smashed,  that he went up to the owners and wanted to return the 10 lac cheque that he was signed up for. It actually took a lot of convincing and counselling with his elder brother also being called in to make sure he carried on playing.

 

On another note, he is clearly improving as a test bowler. Just a quick glance at his spells in the last 3 test series he has played will tell you that. I dont know where you have seen him blowing out after 4 overs because he clearly has great endurance. Watch his spell against south africa on day 5 in pindi, where he bowled an extremely hostile spell to win us the match, or the way he tore up the West Indies, this time with a dukes ball.

 

3rdly, your surface assessment of higher degrees of swing being more dangerous is extremely skewed because that data doesn't take into account the lateness of the movement. 

Guys like starc and boult have good allignment but are also very round arm with their angles which means that their swing is with the angle and hence more easy to combat.

Shaheen on the other hand is extremely high arm at release, and actually has an extremely flexible wrist that allows him to swing the ball because otherwise, his allignment is not perfect for outswing.

This means that the movement generated is really late and against the angle, no wonder the batsman get beaten all ends up, because they dont expect the ball to come in with those body mechanics. 

 

 

Shaheen has bowled threatening spells with the ball in test cricket. He has a lot of  things going for him - high average pace , endurance, swing with he new ball etc. 

 

I do think he needs to find other ways to take wickets in tests when the ball isnt swinging and it's going to be harder for him especially since hes a left armer.  

 

He needs to find a hard length and bowl around the wicket once the ball is semi -old and he DEFINITELY needs a better bouncer. 

[Adi_91]

Shaheen Afridi is a good bowler. And should have a long career if he continues this way.

 

BUT, the big issue with Pakistani players over the last few years is how they developed after initial success. There is a history of them starting big and going into oblivion. Therefore, there is a reason to be cautious about the future given the recent history.

[Jay]

1 hour ago, Axl100mph said:

Can you please tell me what his age is, genius?

Lol at not caring for performances against test playing nations by a 20-21 year old with minimal first class experience, who is learning the art at test level.

 

Also, can you let me know about the kind of support he had from the other end?

Come back to me before picturing a Mavi or Nagarkoti leading the attack in Australia at 19 with Praveen Kumar and Tyagi as his supporting acts.

 

Laughable post, really. Even your own countrymen will agree.

 

 

Tyagi prasidh are excellent prospects for red ball. 

 

But yes shaheen is good. Teams will work him out now and analyse his game. How he develops from now on is on him.

[mishra]

3 hours ago, Axl100mph said:

The fact that you haven't seen him bowl threatening spells in test cricket says more about your laziness rather than him not being good enough because having observed him regularly,  he always gives his maximum effort even in domestic competitions such as the national t20 cup we had recently. 

 

He is a typical straighthearted Pashtun like Rizwan who takes a lot of pride in his performances.  For example in his first season of the PSL when he was picked as a 17 year old kid, he was so distrought with his performances in the first 2 matches where he was smashed,  that he went up to the owners and wanted to return the 10 lac cheque that he was signed up for. It actually took a lot of convincing and counselling with his elder brother also being called in to make sure he carried on playing.

 

On another note, he is clearly improving as a test bowler. Just a quick glance at his spells in the last 3 test series he has played will tell you that. I dont know where you have seen him blowing out after 4 overs because he clearly has great endurance. Watch his spell against south africa on day 5 in pindi, where he bowled an extremely hostile spell to win us the match, or the way he tore up the West Indies, this time with a dukes ball.

 

3rdly, your surface assessment of higher degrees of swing being more dangerous is extremely skewed because that data doesn't take into account the lateness of the movement. 

Guys like starc and boult have good allignment but are also very round arm with their angles which means that their swing is with the angle and hence more easy to combat.

Shaheen on the other hand is extremely high arm at release, and actually has an extremely flexible wrist that allows him to swing the ball because otherwise, his allignment is not perfect for outswing.

This means that the movement generated is really late and against the angle, no wonder the batsman get beaten all ends up, because they dont expect the ball to come in with those body mechanics. 

 

 

Good post with some details. However, Pakistan not getting watched is down to the cricket they play. In tests they are above Bangladesh, playerless windies and reservation plagued South Africa. Same is true for odis.

Hence don’t blame fans like me to not follow Pakistan cricket. I did watched him against England ( not recent series but previous series as recent one had no proper players from England) and my assessment is based on that.

 

yes, It is correct that he is very exciting young talent but fact is , he is not tested against decent sides. Play series against England Australia home and away and then we can make proper assessment.

 

Now compare him to performance of Indian debutants against those sides. 
 

My theory is, Swing is more down to combination of weather(air density) and ball conditions+ ball speed while seam is more down to ball landing and pitch quality. Direction and control is the way bowler deliver it. 
 

What it means is late swing is not in bowlers hand but speed, weather and ball position at point of delivery. If late swing wasn’t mostly weather air density dependent every bowler would be bowling late swing. BTW, I didn’t see any significant late swing. His wickets have been because of his speed gave swing and ball seaming and coming back. As i said, Strac beat most bats by miles.

 

Left armers bowling over the wicket doesnt lets right hand bat have any room if it pitches on the off and middle stump line without risk of going on leg stump after pitching. Not same when bowling to left handed bats. And they can bowl fuller which give that one extra feet for ball to moove in air.

 

Shaheen , as i said, has perfected it and thats his natural length now. Bats just need to make small adjustment and Shaheen will be found

[Nikola]

 

[Azadi]

He is world class with the new ball but mediocre at the death. Yesterdays game was not the first time he has been smashed at the death. He doesn't execute his yorkers all the time and his variations are lacking. If he can improve his death bowling, he can be up there with Bumrah and Archer.

[AKane]

Everything being said about Shaheen Shah Afridi was also said about Muhammad Amir. 

 

On paper this should happen and on paper that should happen - but the game is not played on paper as Afridi showed with Rohit and Rahul and Wade showed with Afridi. Time will tell and we shall see....Personally I "think" we witness Muhammad Amir II (the second) performance wise.

[express bowling]

8 hours ago, Axl100mph said:

 

The fact that he has gone from a 130-140 kph to 145-152kph bowler in 3 years without making any changes to his mechanics, but rather after just filling out provides evidence of his body's maturation 

 

 

Afridi can crank it up to 151 kph or thereabouts on a good day ... but he is not 145 -152 yet.

 

In the match against India, his quickest was 146 kph ... against NZ his quickest was 147.6 kph. He hit 151 kph vs Afghanistan.

 

The 130 -140 speeds you are stating were in test matches ... and he generally bowls 136 k to 146 k in tests now. 

 

And in white ball cricket, he touched 147 kph in the U19 World Cup itself. So, he was quick in white ball cricket even then.

 

In a nutshell, we cannot compare speeds in test matches and T20s.

 

Increasing some pace, as a pacer undergoes strength and conditioning training, is rather common nowadays.

 

But he is a very good opening bowler now, no question about it.

 

 

Edited November 12, 2021 by express bowling

[cricketfan28]

Did Afridi really mock our batsmen , or was it taken out of context .. if he did I have lost all respect.

[Suhaan]

52 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

 

Afridi can crank it up to 151 kph or thereabouts on a good day ... but he is not 145 -152 yet.

 

In the match against India, his quickest was 146 kph ... against NZ his quickest was 147.6 kph. He hit 151 kph vs Afghanistan.

 

The 130 -140 speeds you are stating was in test matches ... and he generally bowls 136 k to 146 k in tests now. 

 

And in white ball cricket, he touched 147 kph in the U19 World Cup itself. So, he was quick in white ball cricket even then.

 

In a nutshell, we cannot compare speeds in test matches and T20s.

 

Increasing some pace, as a pacer undergoes strength and conditioning training, is rather common nowadays.

 

But he is a very good opening bowler now, no question about it.

 

 

He has been a top new ball bowler, that's about it

Lacks skills with old ball,single handedly lost it to Wade

[Jay]

4 hours ago, cricketfan28 said:

Did Afridi really mock our batsmen , or was it taken out of context .. if he did I have lost all respect.

Shaheen is an outstanding bowler. One of the best in the world. Best new ball bowler possibly In LOI. He is getting better in tests. Not there yet.  

 

However, his career will go downhill rather soon imo because karma is a bitch. He was being racist towards his own people in an interview. Basit asked him some questions about his performance not too long ago. He lashed out and told the reporter that he couldn't see him clearly cause he is so black Lel. 

 

This guy is going to get found out soon unfortunately. 

 

[deathmonger]

Shaheen's career will go the same way as their left handed wonderkids in Amir and Junaid. He will be a decent LOI bowler and a poor 30 averaging test bowler. The last Pakistani fast bowler to take 200+ wickets was Waqar and he quit in 2002. The last Pakistani fast bowler to take 100 below 30 (not even 25) was Asif (And he stopped playing more than a decade ago).

 

Bumrah is the most exciting bowler in the world - best test average by any Asian fast bowler ever. Insane stats in both ODIs and T20Is.

 

Shaheen gonna retire with 30+ average in tests. Someone like Porel gonna debut at 25-26 and have a 200+ wickets career at ~25. Systems work, inshallah doesn't.

[Try_Ball]

13 hours ago, Axl100mph said:

That is a very convenient way to discredit someone. 

While there are several such cases, I dont believe Shaheen is one.

If you can manage to take out the time, then do check out his spell of 5-4 in his first PSL season. 

A quick glance at his appearance will quickly give you an idea.

He literally had a teenager's body with no facial hair growth.

The fact that he has gone from a 130-140 kph to 145-152kph bowler in 3 years without making any changes to his mechanics, but rather after just filling out provides evidence of his body's maturation which wouldn't have been the case had he age fudged his way to the top.

 

His age is not important - The guy could or could not be fudging his age -  No one really knows.

The guy bowls well - He reminds me of Early Amir or even Wahab at times but we all know how that turned out.

Let him prove himself more - He's definitely bowling well and has good skills but consistency /longevity and cricketing brain matters.   All the skills in the world are useless if the cricketing brain isn't there.  

As Wade showed yest , hitting three consecutive sixes on 3 balls shows his limitations as well -  The guy does get hit around in PSL as well . 

T20 again shouldn't be benchmark or a fair test for any player - batsman or bowler or anybody - 4 overs of good bowling proves nothing if you are bowling wicketless 50 overs in a Test match for example. 

It all comes down how he can use his skills and adapt himself

[Jay]

2 hours ago, deathmonger said:

Shaheen's career will go the same way as their left handed wonderkids in Amir and Junaid. He will be a decent LOI bowler and a poor 30 averaging test bowler. The last Pakistani fast bowler to take 200+ wickets was Waqar and he quit in 2002. The last Pakistani fast bowler to take 100 below 30 (not even 25) was Asif (And he stopped playing more than a decade ago).

 

Bumrah is the most exciting bowler in the world - best test average by any Asian fast bowler ever. Insane stats in both ODIs and T20Is.

 

Shaheen gonna retire with 30+ average in tests. Someone like Porel gonna debut at 25-26 and have a 200+ wickets career at ~25. Systems work, inshallah doesn't.

People are writing off purely purely early. He will bounce back hard. He is young. Wait till he fills out. Indians work on skills too much. Less so on physical strength and conditioning which imo is a mistake. Both should be utilised simultaneously. Easier to train harder when your are younger. 

Edited November 13, 2021 by Jay

[dilliboy]

He is the most exciting bowler currently but there is a danger in Pakistan running him to the ground due to their sheer dependency on him...Same with is handling Bumrah

[express bowling]

38 minutes ago, dilliboy said:

He is the most exciting bowler currently but there is a danger in Pakistan running him to the ground due to their sheer dependency on him...Same with is handling Bumrah

 

 

Bumrah Is getting a lot of rest.

 

Does not play any bilateral LOIs and rightly so.

 

Has been rested in the 2 home tests vs NZ too.

 

Played just 2 tests vs England at home.

 

He Is basically kept fresh for overseas tests, ICC tournaments and the IPL.

 

 

[dilliboy]

1 hour ago, express bowling said:

 

 

Bumrah Is getting a lot of rest.

 

Does not play any bilateral LOIs and rightly so.

 

Has been rested in the 2 home tests vs NZ too.

 

Played just 2 tests vs England at home.

 

He Is basically kept fresh for overseas tests, ICC tournaments and the IPL.

 

 

I would frankly like him to be rested for most of the matches in IPL too.. Think he is a once in a generation bowler for us and would be a shame if we end up  without a world title with him at his peak

[deathmonger]

9 minutes ago, dilliboy said:

I would frankly like him to be rested for most of the matches in IPL too.. Think he is a once in a generation bowler for us and would be a shame if we end up  without a world title with him at his peak

Tbf he has already won us 2 series in Aus and one in Eng(subject to completion). Can lead us to one in SA as well this year.

 

Those are stellar achievements,

[Jay]

1 hour ago, express bowling said:

 

 

Bumrah Is getting a lot of rest.

 

Does not play any bilateral LOIs and rightly so.

 

Has been rested in the 2 home tests vs NZ too.

 

Played just 2 tests vs England at home.

 

He Is basically kept fresh for overseas tests, ICC tournaments and the IPL.

 

 

Imo he has to play a few tests in Asia to be amongst GOaT. I know he did well in ranji but still, his international performances matter too. I hope he plays vs Bangladesh and some games in India too. Thought we don't really need him