Only the second bowler to pick a five-wicket haul in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi has also become only the second Pakistani bowler to have picked five (or more) wickets in a World Cup match twice.
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Co-incidentally, he has followed father-in-law Shahid Afridi in this list to end a 12-year long hiatus for Pakistani bowlers. Playing his second World Cup, Shaheen’s maiden five-fer in the tournament had come against Bangladesh at the Lord’s four years ago.
Shaheen Shah achieved his latest milestone against Australia in a match where Pakistani bowlers found themselves on the wrong end of a pounding for most part of the 50 overs after captain Babar Azam won the toss and chose to bowl on a batting-friendly M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Despite missing out on a couple of chances to pick a maiden hat-trick at the highest level, Afridi managed to register a third five-wicket haul in the format to play a crucial role in reducing the opposition to 367/9 in 50 overs.
Shaheen Shah Afridi Becomes 2nd Pakistani Bowler To Pick 5 Wickets In World Cup Match Twice
Shaheen Afridi, who bowled the solitary maiden over in a high-scoring innings, managed to put curbs around the Australian batters with the new ball on the back of his first spell reading 4-1-14-0. Had it not been for spinner Usama Mir dropping David Warner (163) in the fifth over bowled by Afridi, Warner wouldn’t have been able to score his fourth successive ODI century against Pakistan.
With Australia yet to lose a wicket, Shaheen Afridi was brought back into the attack in the 34th over. Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh (121), who had hit the left-arm bowler for a six in the first over itself, welcomed him back with a couple of sixes.
However, Afridi delivered on the mammoth expectations of picking a wicket by dismissing both Marsh and Glenn Maxwell (0) on back-to-back balls. Even though both the right-handed batters got out whilst playing big shots, mode of dismissals doesn’t really matter in modern-day cricket.
Afridi, who conceded 29 runs in his second spell consisting of three overs, brought his team back into the contest in spite of leaking runs at nine per over. As expected, Afridi bowled his remaining three overs at the death. Other than conceding just 15 runs to not let Australia dominate in the third powerplay, Shaheen also managed to dismiss three batters during the fag end of the innings.
Having found Marcus Stoinis (21) wanting in front of the stumps on the first delivery of the 48th over, Afridi also sent counterparts Mitchell Starc (2) and Josh Hazlewood (0) back to the pavilion on the first two balls of the last over to finish with figures of 10-1-54-5.
Shahid Afridi Had Achieved The Feat During ICC Cricket World Cup 2011
Unlike his son-in-law, both Shahid Afridi’s World Cup five-wicket hauls had come within 10 days. Joint-highest wicket-taker during ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Afridi’s 21-wicket tournament was possible only because of five-fers against Kenya and Canada in Hambantota and Colombo respectively.
Penultimate of Shahid Afridi’s five World Cups between 1999-2015, 2011 was the only edition where he had also led Pakistan. Having captained Pakistan to the semi-final of the tournament, Afridi had also contributed with the ball in hand in subcontinent conditions.
Afridi, who had picked bowling figures of 8-3-16-5 in their tournament opener against Kenya, had also put Canada into trouble with figures of 10-0-23-5 in their third match. Second-highest ODI wicket-taker in 2011, Afridi had registered a tremendous year with four out of his nine five-wicket hauls in the format coming that year.
Apart from the Afridis, six more Pakistani cricketers have picked five wickets in World Cup matches in all these years.
