LAHORE, Mar 24: Former Pakistan captain and coach, Waqar Younis minced no words while criticising allrounder Shahid Afridi’s performance during the ongoing fifth and final One-day International against South Africa at Benoni today.
The former fast bowler, commenting in a television channel as a expert, said he was appalled at the way Afridi (0) got out today against South Africa in the fifth ODI.
“He got out two balls before the power play was to start. He knew there was a fielder in the deep and he knew (Ryan) McLaren would bowl a short one, and with 15 overs remaining he still played the shot and got out. I just don’t understand this and don’t know what to say,” Waqar said.
Afridi, who has stood out twice in the current series with blistering knocks of 34 and 88, was sacked as captain of the Pakistan ODI side in May, 2011 after having a clash with Waqar, who was the coach on the tour to the West Indies.
Afridi had twice walked out of team meetings on that tour after differences cropped up between him and Waqar over team selection. After that incident, the team management had described Afridi as a disruptive force in the team.
“Look he is in his mid thirties and his eye and reflexes are not what they used to be. We saw that today. He needed to bat sensibly and with 15 overs remaining he needed to bat sensibly but he didn’t and let the team down,” Waqar said.
Waqar, who was Pakistan’s coach in 2010-11 before ending his contract due to personal reasons, has been criticising Afridi during this series and had made no bones of the fact that he believes that the allrounder should be dropped.
Interestingly, another former Pakistan captain, Moin Khan has also said that Afridi apparently has some fitness issues, which is badly affecting his bowling form. (PTI)
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