Watch: Shaheen Afridi Castles Hazratullah Zazai After Latter Tried To Outfox The Pakistan Pacer

Shaheen Afridi has hit the ground running after returning to action following a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to injury. The Pakistan pace spearhead suffered a knee injury during the Galle Test against Sri Lanka in July and spent more than two months on the sidelines.

He also missed the Asia Cup due to the injury. But the 22-year-old has recovered just in time to lead Pakistan’s attack in the T20 World Cup and his display against Afghanistan in the ongoing warm-up match is a timely reminder that the injury has not affected his form. The left-arm pacer wreaked havoc with the new ball to destroy Afghanistan’s top order.

Shaheen Afridi castles Hazratullah Zazai:

After Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl first, it did not take Shaheen Afridi long to justify his captain’s decision. He managed to extract movement from the pitch right from the start and troubled both the Afghanistan openers. In his very first over, he dismissed Rahmanullah Gurbaz with a vicious yorker and also beat Hazratullah Zazai’s outside edge.

And in his second over, he finally managed to get the better of Zazai too. On the 5th ball of his second over, he castled the southpaw after the latter exposed all his stumps in order to make room for himself. The Afghanistan opener moved leg-side and wanted to play on the off-side. Shaheen Afridi, however, quashed his hopes by hitting the leg stump with fast delivery.

Here is a clip of the dismissal:

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Talking about the game, Afghanistan did well to recover from the early setbacks and post a competitive total of 154 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs. Captain Mohammad Nabi top-scored for his team, scoring an unbeaten 51 off 36 balls. Usman Ghani also played a fine cameo of 32 not out from just 20 balls. For Pakistan, Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf picked up two wickets apiece.