Shahid Afridi lashes out at Akhtar's 'Shaheen could've used pain-killers for T20 WC final' statement with blunt remark
Shoaib Akhtar was unhappy with Shaheen missing out those two important overs and felt that he should have risked everything as it was the World Cup final.
Pakistan were completely in the game, until the 16th over of England's chase, despite setting a below-par total in the T20 World Cup final. The fiery pace attack of the Pakistan side had put England on backfoot with even Ben Stokes looking to struggling. However, Shaheen Afridi hurt his knee, once again, this time while completing a catch, which led to the star bowler missing his final two overs. Captain Babar Azam can to bring in Iftikhar Ahmed to bowl out Shaheen's incomplete third over and England capitalised on it to race away with the trophy.
Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar was unhappy with Shaheen missing out those two important overs and felt that he should have risked everything as it was the World Cup final. Akhtar further went on to say that Shaheen could have taken painkillers instead.
"When your main bowler becomes unfit, then it creates problem for you. Shaheen (Afridi) was never fully fit, but we cannot put the entire blame on him as he bowled well in the past 2-3 matches. But this is World Cup final. Even if the leg breaks. Whatever happens, happens. Just keep running and do something. But this was not in our fortune," he had told Zee News.
"When you numb your feet, the pain is not felt. Yes, you are risking the career of the young man. It is a World Cup final, whether you can risk or not that you have to think as a captain. It is a tough decision," he added.
When former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was asked the same during his interaction with Samaa TV, he lashed out at his former teammate saying that painkillers have a lot of side effects on the body and should be only taken in a disciplined way.
"Nehin, nehin, nehin...main nehin samajhta ki yeh jayas baat hai. Painkillers sirf akhti taur pe hota hai. Humne bhi bohot dafa kiya hai. But uske bhi side effects bohot saare hote hai. Kyunki uss time toh sunn ho jati hai and pain khatam ho jati hai, but pain aur zyada bar jaati hai next day (No, no…not at all, it's wrong. Painkillers should be taken in a disciplined manner. I too used to take it. But it has a lot of side effects. It does numb the pain for a while, but after the match day, it tends to pain even more)," he said.
