Working on my power-hitting with Shahid Afridi: Shaheen Afridi

Lahore Qalandars captain, Shaheen Afridi, is keen to improve his batting and was seen recently working on his power-hitting with his father-in-law and former hard-hitting batsman, Shahid Afridi in Karachi.

“I practiced with Lala at Moin Khan Academy before my Nikkah. I was working on my power-hitting technique and batting [with Shahid Afridi],” Shaheen said in an exclusive interview with Cricket Pakistan.

Shaheen, who won the first PSL title for Qalandars last season, said that he is enjoying the leadership role.

“I am feeling good about captaincy and my players and coaching staff is supporting me. You have think about the whole team while leading the side. My experience with captaincy has been pretty good so far and I am hoping to continue it,” he said.

The left-arm pacer also opened up about concerns regarding his workload management.

“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,” he said.

“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 added.

The Qalandars captain is looking forward to their upcoming clash against Karachi Kings on Sunday, February 19 in HBL PSL 8.

“We have always heard about the rivalry between Karachi and Lahore. We have had some exciting contests with them in recent past, and we are hoping to have another good match in a friendly atmosphere,” he said.

Shaheen also shared his experience of bowling to Pakistan captain, Babar Azam, and wicketkeeper-batsman, Mohammad Rizwan.