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‘Working on batting with Shahid Afridi’: Shaheen gears up for World Cup with power-hitting practice with ex-PAK captain
With the World Cup scheduled for October-November this year, Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi revealed that he has been receiving batting lessons from father-in-law Shahid Afridi.
With cricket nowadays requiring even bowlers to add plenty of runs to their team's total, many tailenders have even become power-hitters in modern-day cricket. Even Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi recently revealed in an interwith that he received some batting lessons from his father-in-law Shahid Afridi. In particular, Shaheen will be aiming to improve his batting with the ODI World Cup, scheduled for October-November this year.
The 22-year-old is currently participating in the Pakistan Super League, where he captains Lahore Qalandars. The bowler led them to their first PSL title last season and led them to a victory in their opening match this year. Lahore opened their campaign with a narrow win vs Multan Sultans on Monday. Chasing a target of 176 runs, Multan reached 174 for six in 20 overs, losing by one run. Shaheen was in good form and bagged a wicket in four overs, conceding only 27 runs. Initially, Lahore posted 175 for six in 20 overs courtesy of a half-century from opener Fakhar Zaman.
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Speaking to Cricket Pakistan, Shaheen revealed that he practiced his batting skills with former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi. "I practiced with Lala at Moin Khan Academy before my Nikkah. I was working on my power-hitting technique and batting [with Shahid Afridi]", he said. Shaheen got engaged to Shahid's daughter Ansha in 2021. The duo married in a private Nikkah ceremony on February 3 this year.
Also opening up on his workload management, he said, "Pakistan team’s physio Cliffe Deacon guides me really well. He has helped me a lot during rehab. Our physio monitors everything. I got injured during fielding and not while bowling."
"Someone said they don’t know how to properly dive in the field. If you look at pacers from the past, they didn’t use to dive. We enjoy fielding, but obviously we are humans and not machines. Sometimes we forget technique during fielding and forget about wet patches. But we are trying to give our best in bowling as well as fielding", he further added.
