Prior to the eighth season of the Pakistan Super League, star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi expressed his excitement to return to the field with his team Lahore Qalandars (PSL).
Under Afridi’s direction, Qalandars broke their title drought by defeating Multan Sultans by 42 runs in the PSL 7 championship game.
The reigning champions faced PDP Class of 22 in a warm-up game on Tuesday at the Gymkhana Cricket Ground in Lahore as part of PSL 8 preparations.
The left-arm pacer posted images from the practise game on Twitter.
“Excited to be back on the field! Warming up with my Lahore Qalandars family,” he wrote.
Excited to be back on the field!
Warming up with my @lahoreqalandars family!#sochnabemanahai #HBLPSL8 pic.twitter.com/Cjhs8fK13y
— Shaheen Shah Afridi (@iShaheenAfridi) February 7, 2023
Afridi kept up his signature approach throughout the game and secured a wicket in his opening over.
Shaheen Afridi strikes early in 1st over during practice match ????⚡️#sochnabemanahai #HBLPSL8 pic.twitter.com/Qj7q3opWRc
— Lahore Qalandars (@lahoreqalandars) February 7, 2023
During the T20 World Cup 2022 final match versus England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Afridi hurt his knee while attempting to capture Harry Brook.
The pacer has not played competitive cricket since that time, but on February 13—following the PSL 8 opening ceremony—the Qalandars and Multan Sultans will square off in the league’s first match at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
???????? pic.twitter.com/WheugX8Ya0
Advertisement— Lahore Qalandars (@lahoreqalandars) February 7, 2023
Shaheen admitted in a recent interview with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that he had considered leaving up while undergoing rehabilitation.
“There were times when I wanted to give up,” Shaheen told PCB Digital. “I was working on only one muscle and it was not improving. Often during the rehabilitation sessions, I used to say to myself ‘this is enough, I cannot do this anymore’.”
However, the 22-year-old got inspiration from his bowling by watching his videos on YouTube.
“But then I used to watch my bowling on YouTube and see how well I had done and that motivated me and I told myself ‘to push a little more’ … It is frustrating for a fast bowler to miss cricket because of an injury,” he added.
Shaheen leads all players who made their PSL debuts in 2018 in terms of wickets (70). He is third among all-time tournament wicket-takers behind Wahab Riaz (103) and Hasan Ali (81), who have respectively participated in 27 and 14 more matches.
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