Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja has given a major update on speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi’s recovery. The left-arm quick suffered a knee injury during the Sri Lanka Tests which ruled him out of the Asia Cup 2022. However, the 22-year-old is expected to regain fitness before the commencement of the much-awaited T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
Pakistan will begin their campaign against arch-rivals India on October 23 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Before that, Babar Azam & Co are slated to play a couple of warm-up games in Australia. Meanwhile, Raja has given a major update on Shaheen’s recovery, stating that the speedster is 90 per cent ready for the upcoming showpiece event. However, his availability will depend on how he plays in the two warm-up ties.
Afridi is set to join the national team in Australia on Saturday after completing his rehabilitation programme for a knee injury under the supervision of the PCB Medical Advisory Committee. He will be available for selection for the warm-up games against England and Afghanistan on October 17 and 19 respectively.
“I have spoken to him we are in touch with his doctors and the feedback we have got is he is 90 percent ready. But knee injuries can be delicate and technical, and we have to see if he feels any soreness after playing the warm-up games. On his part, he says he is ready, and I think we are also ready," Raja said.
“I will say this the mechanics of the World Cup are such that even as an independent observer I can say with confidence that our team can become the champions. We have a very good outfit," he added.
There have been calls for separating the opening pair of Muhammad Rizwan and Babar Azam but Raja made it clear there was no need to make any such move.
“I am surprised we talk about separating them when the talking point for any team is having a solid opening pair. The three make points for a team to be successful is to have a good opening pair and we also have good bowlers.
“Yes the team does disappoint us sometimes but they have a 75 percent success ratio which is why fans and our commercial partners are engaging with them. They are issues with the middle order but I don’t see any reason to change something which has worked for us until now," he added.
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