Shaheen Afridi was left out of the Pakistan playing XI on Thursday for the second and final Test match of the series against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi. Shaheen was reportedly left shocked and heartbroken after Pakistan left him out of the 12-member line-up for the match and perceived it as part of continuous unfair treatment from the team management.
In the wake of the 10-wicket loss against Bangladesh in the series opener last week, media reports claimed that senior team players and a few members of the team management blamed Shaheen's performance for the defeat. The left-armer was expected to exploit the grassy conditions on Day 1 against Bangladesh, but ended up picking just two wickets for 96 runs in the match, both of which were tail-enders. Moreover, his pace, which was in the mid-140 kmph, fell significantly after he recovered from an injury last year.
Pakistan's head coach Jason Gillespie may not have mentioned the word 'dropped,' but he explained that Shaheen was "working on some things" to improve his bowling.
"Shaheen's missed out this game. We've had a good conversation with him, and he fully understands and appreciates the thinking behind it. Shaheen's been given some feedback. He's working on some things with his bowling to be as effective as he possibly can be. He's working really well with Azhar Mahmood. We want to see Shaheen at his best because we've got a lot of cricket in all formats and Shaheen's going to play a really big role in that," Gillespie said in the pre-match presser on Friday as Pakistan included legspinner Abrar Ahmed and fast bowler Mir Hamza in the line-up.
But, why was Shaheen Afridi 'shocked'?
{{/usCountry}}"Shaheen's missed out this game. We've had a good conversation with him, and he fully understands and appreciates the thinking behind it. Shaheen's been given some feedback. He's working on some things with his bowling to be as effective as he possibly can be. He's working really well with Azhar Mahmood. We want to see Shaheen at his best because we've got a lot of cricket in all formats and Shaheen's going to play a really big role in that," Gillespie said in the pre-match presser on Friday as Pakistan included legspinner Abrar Ahmed and fast bowler Mir Hamza in the line-up.
But, why was Shaheen Afridi 'shocked'?
{{/usCountry}}According to a report in Cricket Pakistan, Shaheen was allowed to go home to Karachi after the end of the first Test to meet his wife and newborn child Aliyaar. However, he was hurriedly called back two days later only to be told that he had been dropped from the playing XI, leaving him "shocked" over the team management's act.
This is not the first time Shaheen has been at the receiving end of what he has reportedly understood as "unfair treatment." Earlier in the summer, before Pakistan's forgettable outing in the T20 World Cup in the USA, he was removed from the captaincy position in the format and stripped of vice-captaincy in Tests. The report added that these events took a significant toll on the fast bowler, who even let go of lucrative franchise-league contracts to remain available for Test cricket.
The report also revealed that Shaheen's exclusion from the playing XI was primarily due to a member of the team management who did not like him, leaving the cricketer "visibly unhappy and disillusioned".