Pakistan cricket team slumped to a seven-wicket defeat at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad against India on Saturday. It was a reality check for the Pakistan team which was cruising at one stage at 154/2, before skipper Babar Azam departed in the 30th over. That saw Pakistan unravel, with the visitors collapsing to a paltry target of 191.
In the second innings, for Pak, the onus was heavily on Shaheen, who has in past, been a nightmare for the Indian top order. A tall left-arm seamer with the ability to get late movement into the right hander, Shaheen possesses the perfect ingredients to rattle Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli, but the fast bowler's poor run of form continued. Shaheen's left-arm exploits have often earned him comparisons with the legendary Wasim Akram, but Shastri wasn't having any of it. In a brutal assessment, Shastri called a spade a spade, asserting that Pakistan have to accept that Shaheen is nothing extraordinary. When Naseem Shah is not playing and this is the quality of spin... Shaheen Shah Afridi is no Wasim Akram. He is a good bowler with the new ball and can pick wickets, but there is nothing special about him. He is only a decent bowler. He's no big deal. You have to accept the truth," he said.Join Shastri in his criticism for Shaheen was Sunil Gavaskar, who wasn't happy with the left-arm quick for not taking a leaf out of Jasprit Bumrah's dismissals in the first innings. He pointed out that the Indian star's success with slower off-cutters, which led to two crucial wickets, should have been emulated by Shaheen with the new ball.
