'Five wickets vs India...': Shaheen Afridi promises selfie only after dismantling Rohit and Co.

Shaheen Afridi is expected to play an important role in the highly anticipated clash between India and Pakistan

The countdown is on for the highly anticipated match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan in the 2023 World Cup. Apart from the history between the two sides, the fact that both sides have shown remarkable consistency they have shown in the two matches they have played in this tournament.

Shaheen Afridi during practice at the Narendra Modi Stadium ahead of the match between India and Pakistan (REUTERS)

Among the players on both sides who are expected to play an important role in the match is Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi. The ace fast bowler has been a thorn for the Indians every time the two teams have faced each other, although he was taken to the cleaners the last time they met in the Asia Cup earlier this year. India play Pakistan in Ahmedabad now at the colossal Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday and the two sides are now going through final preparations at the venue. Afridi is among them and he seems to have thrown the gauntlet for the Indians ahead of the match.

According to reports, a few members of the media asked Afridi for a selfie as he made his way off the ground after training. “Zaroor selfie loonga, but five wicket lene ke baad [I’d be happy to take one, but only after I’ve claimed five wickets]," Afridi said in response, according to Revsportz. Both sets of players are known to share a lot of mutual respect despite playing some intense matches in ODIs and T20Is in recent years. Afridi recently picked talismanic India batter Virat Kohli as the best proponent of the cover drive in the tournament and both him and Babar Azam publicly wished for the former captain to regain his form while Kohli was going through his drought of centuries for over three years.

Both sides off to good start

Both Pakistan and India have started the World Cup with a couple of big wins. Pakistan thrashed the Netherlands by 81 runs in their tournament opener after which they beat Sri Lanka by six wickets. Their comprehensive win in the second match came despite the fact that they had to chase down a target of 345, which is the highest for Pakistan in the history of the World Cup. Opener Abdullah Shafique scored 113 off 103 balls on what was his debut match in the World Cup. Mohammed Rizwan scored an unbeaten 131 off 121 to lead Pakistan to victory. Rizwan had also scored 68 in Pakistan's first match.

India, meanwhile, beat Australia by six wickets in their opening match and then defeated Afghanistan by eight wickets with 15 overs to spare. While they got off to a shaky start against Australia chasing a target of 200, KL Rahul's unbeaten 97 off 115 and Virat Kohli's 85 off 116 took them home. Against Afghanistan, captain Rohit Sharma took the match by the horns, scoring 131 off 84 and breaking a plethora of records in the process. Kohli then scored an unbeaten 55 and India chased down a target of 273 with 90 balls to spare.