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With just three bad balls Shaheen Afridi undid the hard work he had put in each and every delivery he bowled in the T20 World Cup 2021. One of the main reasons why Pakistan dominated teams at the Super 12 stage was the start to their campaign. The left-arm pacer’s lethal pace and troubling swing threw India off the track and charged up Pakistan as they demolished teams in their own backyard. But against Matthew Wade the pacer let his ego got the better of him.
It is to be noted that he got the better of Wade in the penultimate over when Hasan Ali dropped an easy chance. But, for the rest of three deliveries Wade sized him up well to deliver the final blow. Wade knew that Afridi will go for the age-old death overs’ trick and bowl full and straight to him. The wicketkeeper-batter anticipated the length and used the youngster’s pace to hit the ball out of the ground on the leg side.
The first of the three deliveries that got hit for a six can still be excused but not the ones that followed. The 21-year-old bowled an off-cutter but Wade still had enough pace to hit it out of the ground. Even if Afridi was planning to bowl that delivery to the Aussie, he did not get his field placement right or he just went through it anyway.
On the last ball, Afridi almost gave it away and dished out another loosener of a delivery in an attempt to land the perfect yorker. Wade preyed on Afridi’s experience once again as he has against many bowlers in the Big Bash League and guided the ball over fine leg for another six to seal the win for Australia.
While Wade was at his attacking best in the semi-final, he did not get much game time at the Super 12 stage. After coming in to bat at no.7 at crunch situation with required run rate going up, the southpaw was not in control and looking for pace to get himself going, as he mentioned in the post-match presentation.
“I was talking to Stoinis at the other end and tried to work out what they're doing. I got a little more pace on than expected, I probably could have used it a little bit earlier, but yeah.. glad to get a couple at the end,” the 33-year-old told the broadcaster.
It is not like Afridi is not a skillful bowler either at the top or in the death overs but lack of experience in big games may have got the better of him. The tall fast bowler ended his maiden T20 World Cup campaign with seven wickets from six games and a tough lesson for the rest of his cricketing career.
