In the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup, Shaheen Afridi was on fire for Pakistan against India in Dubai on October 24. The 22-year-old was playing against India for the first time in his career, and in his maiden game he produced an iconic performance that will be remembered for ages by the Pakistani cricket fraternity.
His spectacular spell with the new ball in Dubai helped the Men in Green register their first ever win over India in World Cup matches. In that game, Shaheen got rid of India’s top three batters – Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli. And he will be eager to produce a similar sort of performance once again on Sunday (October 23), when the two sides will line-up against each other in their opening clash of the 2022 T20 World Cup.
There are still three more days for the mega clash, and ahead of that game in Melbourne, Shaheen recalled his iconic performance and revealed how he made a plan to get rid of Rohit and Rahul.
The left-arm pacer said that he was determined to put on a performance against India that would forever be embedded in the memories of Pakistan fans. But he admitted that there was pressure both on him and his side as he had never faced India before and Pakistan were still waiting for their first win against India in World Cup matches.
“A time comes in your career when you want to make a name for yourself, and this opportunity comes when you are facing the bigger teams. I always wanted to play against India and this was my first T20 against them. I wanted to perform in a way that people would always remember. We also hadn’t won against India in a World Cup before,” he told ESPNCricinfo.
The youngster, who will make his comeback in this T20 World Cup after spending three months out of the ground due to a knee injury, said that he had studied Rohit’s pattern of dismissal and learned about his vulnerability against the inswing deliveries at a yorker length and used it to his advantage.
“I had observed that Rohit Sharma struggles against the inswing at that yorker length. In 2021, most of my dismissals were of that length. So, I thought to myself, if that’s my strength, why not use it against him in the first ball that I bowl to him,” he recalled.
Shaheen was successful in executing his plan and got Rohit out for a duck in the first over itself. Apart from Rohit, he also dismissed his strike partner KL Rahul, and recalling Rahul’s dismissal, Shaheen said that he had a chat with former skipper Shoaib Malik and his advice helped him to get Rahul’s wicket.
“For KL Rahul, I happened to be standing with Shoaib Malik. He asked me if the ball was swinging, and I said, not much. He asked me to not try the yorker ball but the length ball, and it might just nip back in. I tried it and that’s exactly what happened. I owe that wicket to Shoaib Malik,” he added.
