If Pakistan were to win a second ICC Men’s T20 World Cup championship in Australia, speedster Shaheen Afridi, according to Australia great Ricky Ponting, must perform.
When he bowled with incredible pace and earned fantastic figures of 4/22 against Bangladesh on Sunday, Afridi gave his best performance of the tournament thus far, and that period helped Pakistan secure the final berth in the semi-finals.
The key to Pakistan’s success in the competition now rests with him, Ponting said. “He might say that he’s not back to 100 percent just yet, but from what I’ve seen it looks like he’s going along beautifully,” Ponting added.
Afridi, 22, injured his right knee while fielding in the first Test match between Sri Lanka and England in Galle in July. The 22-year-old admitted it took him a while to recover because he could hardly walk after the injury.
Afridi’s wicketless performance in Pakistan’s first two tournament games against India and Zimbabwe may have cast some doubt on his ability to quickly recover, but Ponting always had faith in the left arm’s abilities.
When he’s on the field, you just know what he’s capable of, so I never had any doubts, Ponting said.
And as I previously stated, he will still have a greater impact on games than most because of how talented he is, even if he isn’t performing at 100%.
“So, take a look, he may have had a few concerns in the back of his own mind, and the Pakistan hierarchy and coaching group may have had a few concerns in the back of their minds, but not any longer.”
He has performed admirably thus far, and hopefully, there are still two games left.
Ponting said Afridi’s resurgence was similar to how Indian superstar Virat Kohli had suddenly found his game in Australia and said that sometimes you simply have to have faith in the best players to deliver on the biggest stages.
Ponting observed, “It’s almost a little bit like the India scenario with Virat Kohli coming into this tournament.
Champion players will find a way to succeed, so sometimes you just have to stick with them, pick them, and let them go.
And as the competition has gone on, Afridi has improved steadily, so hopefully, the best is yet to come.
