Pakistan's premier fast bowler Shaheen Afridi is currently undergoing recovery for his knee injury. Shaheen faced the injury during the Test series against Sri Lanka in August and even as he returned to the side in time for the T20 World Cup, the injury seemingly relapsed during the all-important final of the tournament against England. As a result, Afridi was forced to leave the field early with 11 deliveries still remaining in his four-over quota. Pakistan eventually lost the game by five wickets.
Earlier this month, Pakistan endured a disappointing 0-3 clean sweep defeat in the Test series to Ben Stokes' English team; throughout the series, the side faced further injury absences in Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah, leading to growing criticism of Babar Azam's captaincy. Naturally, the Pakistan fans are not too pleased with the current situation of the side and during a meet-and-greet event for Pakistan Super League franchise Lahore Qalandars at a college in Lahore, one of the fans let her disappointment known to Afridi, who was present at the event alongside Haris and Fakhar Zaman.
“You carried the Pakistan team on your shoulders in the T20 World Cup. When are you coming back? Because our team looks in tatters right now. Just because there isn't a Shaheen Shah Afridi in the XI, we were knocked out of the World Test Championship as well!” the fan said in a video posted by Najeeb Durrani on YouTube, drawing applause from the fellow students present in the auditorium.
{{/usCountry}}“You carried the Pakistan team on your shoulders in the T20 World Cup. When are you coming back? Because our team looks in tatters right now. Just because there isn't a Shaheen Shah Afridi in the XI, we were knocked out of the World Test Championship as well!” the fan said in a video posted by Najeeb Durrani on YouTube, drawing applause from the fellow students present in the auditorium.
{{/usCountry}}Shaheen took his time for the fans to settle before replying to the question. “There's a Test match 2 days later. If they call me for that, I'll be available!” the premier pacer said, drawing massive cheer from the audience.
“You guys cried here (after Pakistan's loss in T20 World Cup final). You don't know what we went through there. All three of us (Shaheen, Haris Rauf, and Fakhar Zaman) are sitting here, and you will see us back on the field very soon,” Afridi further said.