Ravi Shastri said that Shaheen Shah Afridi has an immense workload on his shoulders due to a lack of quality pacers in the Pakistan team on the tour of Australia.
Shaheen is currently amongst the more experienced pacers in Australia, along with emerging stars in the form of Aamer Jamal, Khurram Shehzad and others.
Shastri, who recently also commentated in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2023/24, said that Shaheen needs support from the other end.
“I think the real problem for Shaheen Afridi is being the spearhead of the Pakistan pace attack without much support at the other end when it comes to pace, genuine pace,” Shastri was quoted as saying during commentary on Day 2.
In the first innings of the Perth Test, Shaheen finished with figures of 27-7-96-1. After picking up Australia’s first wicket in the form of Usman Khawaja, Shaheen failed to make a breakthrough.
Shastri said that Pakistan lack genuine pacers on the Australia tour, because of which Shaheen needs to take a chunk of the load in the bowling department.
“When you talk about Pakistan and their fast bowling attack, there is genuine pace all the time. And, you don’t have one bowler here, who’s even close to 140. So, that puts immense pressure on someone like Shaheen,” he added.
Although Shaheen struggled a wee bit, Aamer Jamal put his hands up on his debut after he finished with figures of 20.2-1-111-6.
Pakistan are trailing by 355 runs at Stumps on Day 2. As far as Shaheen is concerned, he had become the No.1 ranked bowler in ODIs before losing his top spot following the match against New Zealand in World Cup 2023.