IND vs PAK, Asia Cup 2023: Shaheen Afridi lights up an rainy day with a spell of doom | Cricket News
It was a day where even the locals of Pallekele – who are welcoming a delayed monsoon — were hoping for rain gods to show mercy. Luckily, for them, they at least got to see Pakan bowl and India bat – the box-office attraction from both teams – before the rains forced an abandonment after India set a target of 267. The evening wasn’t all about elemental fury, though, as Shaheen Shah Afridi turned on the heat to melt India’s top-order. Ironically, India’s middle order which has created a few headaches in recent times was the one that saved the blushes for them.
There may be more lethal, menacing, mean fast bowlers going around, but there isn’t one like Afridi with the new ball. He isn’t a conventional new ball bowler who is content to hurl the ball up and look for movement. With a tall trajectory and ability to clock over 145kmph, he is a new-ball wizard who conjures unplayable deliveries early in the innings that even batsmen with proven mettle find too hot to handle. For nearly a decade, especially in the second half of their careers, the two Ws, Wasim and Waqar, had become more potent with the old ball. But now with Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf, watching Pakan use the new ball has become one of the greatest experiences out there in cricket.Most Read
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And the most amazing part of Afridi’s wizardry lies not just in the speed and the movement he gets, but how consently he lands in areas that batsmen know he is going to deliver, but still manages to breach their defence. In the 2021 T20 World Cup, he had sent down his lethal yorker that trapped Rohit Sharma plumb in front. Here, you could see it coming even before he started his run-up and Rohit wasn’t going to be fooled a second time. Little did Rohit know Afridi had started his bluff. The next 16 deliveries he sent down to the Indian captain — either side of the first rain break — included three yorkers and a dozen incoming ones. Cautious of those deliveries that seamed in, Rohit was batting on the leg-stump guard or even further down the leg exposing all three stumps. The ones that angled away were being let alone as it seemed harmless. And off the 18th delivery he sent down to Rohit, he delivered the KO. Like the previous two deliveries that went with the angle, this too pitched on the same line, but it snaked back in and Rohit, like he was in Dubai, was late in getting his bat in line as it took the off-stump.
First time in Asia Cup (ODI) hory that all 10 wickets have been taken pacers 🎯
Quality stuff @iShaheenAfridi, @iNaseemShah and @HarisRauf14 ☄️#PAKvIND | #AsiaCup2023 pic.twitter.com/sThyT8ckef
— Pakan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) September 2, 2023
In his next over, he had a go at Virat Kohli, who had started off with an imperious cover-drive of Naseem Shah who had had Shubman Gill in all sorts of trouble. After letting go of his first delivery that he faced off Afridi, he tried to open the face to the next that was angling away from him, only to inside-edge it on to the stumps. In his first spell that lasted five overs, his consency stood out. Not a single delivery to the right-handed batsmen was short or wide or overpitched.
Afridi wasn’t done yet. As India began to show signs of motoring towards a total of 300, he returned to evaporate those hopes removing Hardik Pandya, who had brought his side back into the game with 87 off 90 deliveries and was beginning to tee off. Afridi outfoxed Hardik with a slower one that was scooped straight to cover fielder. Five balls later, he got one to shape away from Ravindra Jadeja, inducing a nick behind as India’s innings folded for 266 in 48.5 overs.
Even though it had been pouring heavily in Kandy, this little town had no traces of rain up until the afternoon where India and Pakan were coming face-to-face in an ODI for the first time since the 2019 World Cup on Saturday. The signs were ominous when the dark clouds that had descended over Kandy in the morning headed towards Pallekele. According to the locals, the topography of the place is such that when it rains in Kandy it usually stays clear in Pallekele town which is situated below the second biggest city in the island. But on Saturday, the dark clouds that were mostly passing Pallekele stayed put for the worse, bringing in steady drizzle and heavy rain at times, more so in the second-half of the evening, much to the agony of the thousands of fans who had braved the weather and waited on the grass banks on either side with just umbrellas as cover. Even though the heavy rain that battered the ground stopped around 8.35 PM local time, and there was a brief pause which prompted the groundstaff to take the covers off and players to warm-up another spell of slight drizzle that started after the inspection of the outfield around 9.05 PM, brought the covers on and with that the curtains.
