‘Edge lag ke chauka jaaye…’ – Wasim Akram lambasts Shaheen Afridi after poor bowling in PSL

Shaheen Afridi. (Photo Source – Twitter/X)

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) witnessed more feud recently as Lahore Qalandars’ captain and current national team captain, Shaheen Afridi, faced criticism from legendary cricketer Wasim Akram. The rift started after Afridi’s team suffered a defeat at the hands of Quetta Gladiators, with Afridi’s performance and decision-making under scrutiny.

The Lahore-based franchise suffered a setback against Quetta Gladiators, despite a valiant effort by Shaheen Afridi, who scored 55 off 34 balls with the bat, but couldn’t prevent his team’s 6-wicket loss.

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It wasn’t just Afridi’s batting that came into question; it was his bowling, particularly in the crucial death overs, that drew criticism. The spat started after Afridi’s ‘shush’ gesture after reaching his fifty with a six.

Akram didn’t hold back in his criticism and said on A Sports, “Shaheen is a very experienced bowler. He is the captain of the Pakistan team as well. He has been playing international cricket for five years now.”

“He wanted to bowl a length ball, but instead he should have bowled full. Edge lag ke chauka jaaye (It doesn’t matter if he had conceded a boundary through edge) is not a problem. I think it again is a learning curve for Shaheen. I think in this PSL, he is not able to bowl well in the death overs,” the veteran added to his criticism.

Batsmen are prepared for Shaheen now: Akram

The spat stemmed after Afridi promoted himself up the batting order ahead of power-hitters like Sikandar Raza and David Wiese.

After Afridi’s half-century knock on Sunday, Akram highlighted that “Shaheen scored 1 off 3, while Raza scored 22 off 16 & Wiese 24 off 9. They took the score to 177. It’s not mandatory that if you are captain, you have to come out to bat. Observe the situation & whether there are better players & hitters in the dugout. If Shaheen had done that, maybe they would have made 190.”

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The former left-arm bowler even criticized Shaheen’s bowling, “Even with the new ball, we all were watching it together, he was bowling half volleys. He needs to understand that batsmen now have understood that the first two balls from Shaheen will be yorkers. In the death, he will either bowl slower cutter or will on the stumps around the wicket. Batsmen are prepared for it now,” he concluded.