ICC U-19 World Cup: Meet The Salman Khan Fan From Pakistan Who Is Tormenting Opposition In New Zealand

While the political tensions have seen the bilateral ties between India and Pakistan being suspended at the moment, it has not stopped Shaheen Afridi, Pakistan’s latest pace sensation, from enjoying Bollywood movies.

In fact, the youngster, who is currently plying his trade in the Under-19 World Cup, knows a thing or two about India including Hind. In an interview with Wisden India, the left-arm pacer revealed that he is a huge Salman Khan fan and learnt Hindi by watching Bollywood movies.

“This man of the match interview I did just now was only my second interview in English. I haven’t even learnt English in school, but I’m not too bad, right? But bhaijaan, can we have this chat in a mix of Urdu and Hindi, that will be good for both of us,” Afridi told Wisden India.

“Arre try me. I watch all Bollywood movies, so my Hindi is fantastic. I just saw Tiger Zindaa Hai recently, Sallu bhai ke bade fan hai!” (I’m a massive fan of Salman Khan.),”replied Afridi after being asked where did he learn Hindi from.

Afridi’s action and height have made many compare him with Australia’s pace spearhead Mitchell Starc. However, the lanky pacer does not think on the same line and believes that his action is natural and is not copied from anyone.

“I don’t even think my action has any similarity with that of Starc’s, but people keep bringing it up on the internet,” he said. “By the almighty’s grace, I have got a natural action, and I haven’t really tried to model it around anyone else’s.”

Standing at 6 feet 5 inches, the 18-year old grabbed the headlines while playing for Khan Research Laboratory against Rawalpindi in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. In his debut game, he bagged eight for 39 to set a new first-class record in the country, breaking a 43-year old record, set by Nadeem Malik who had taken eight for 58.

He has lived up to the expectations in the World Cup too, picking up 9 wickets in three games including the stunning spell of 6 for 15 against Ireland.

Afridi is delighted to lead his team’s pace attack and is now eyeing the ultimate glory in the tournament.

“It is a great feeling that I am able to lead this pace attack and god willing, we will finish at the top in this tournament,” Afridi begins, all optimism. “In the first match (against Afghanistan, which Pakistan lost by five wickets), it felt like the team was going through a low. Right now, we have made a terrific comeback. We don’t get these kind of conditions in Pakistan, and it really helps when there is bounce like this on the wicket.”

The highly-rated pacer further revealed former Pakistan pacers Waqar Younis, and Wasim Akram are his heroes. He went on to say that he is eyeing to create a similar legacy as the legendary bowling duo did.

“Wasim Akram was my hero. Waqar Younis too,” he says. “I have heard stories that when they would bowl from opposite ends, there would be a competition between them like if one guy got a wicket, the other person would feel like, why didn’t I get a wicket, and press for it harder. That is such a healthy competition to have within the team. So I decided, I also want to have a story like that one day.”

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