“Has it been decided earlier?” Shaheen Afridi claims real pace isn’t shown on speed guns, limited to 132-133 kmph 

In the past year Shaheen Afridi has been struggling to bowl above 135 km/h due to an injury.

“Has it been decided earlier?” Shaheen Afridi claims real pace isn’t shown on speed guns, limited to 132-133 kmph 

Shaheen Afridi during the Benaud-Qadir series (Image via ESPN)

Shaheen Afridi was one of the fastest bowlers in the world, with most of his deliveries touching speeds in the range of 140 km/h to 150 km/h. Along with his speeds, he had great control over his line, length and movement, which made him one of the best pacers in the world. 

Unfortunately, he suffered a ligament injury in his knee, which saw him out injured for a long time. Afridi finally returned to International cricket in the 2022 T20I World Cup, where it looked like he lost a lot of his pace. He injured the same knee yet again in the finals but returned to international cricket, claiming his knee was “100%”. Unfortunately, he hasn’t got his pace back. 

YouTube video

In Pakistan’s recent tour of Australia, Afridi struggled with fitness issues and didn’t look his best, even getting a rest for the final Test. Many noticed his dip in pace, with his highest reaching only 135km/h. But the Pakistan bowler believes he bowls way faster than what the speed gun shows. 

In the press conference ahead of the New Zealand tour, Afridi claimed their actual speeds were not shown and were capped at the mid-130s. He further added that everyone watched the speeds shown on the screen and no one in the team believed it. 

To be honest, when we were bowling we kept checking the scoreboard to see our pace. We wondered if we were actually that slow, all of us were confused. We put so much effort into bowling fast, but the speeds were only coming to 132-133 km/h? Has it been decided earlier to limit our actual pace? 
Shaheen Afridi to the press

Shaheen will captain the Pakistan team for the first time in the upcoming 5-match T20I series against New Zealand. He captains Pakistan Super League side Lahore Qalandars, which he has led to 2 PSL titles. 

Pakistan coach resigns after disastrous tenure 

Grant Bradburn has left the Pakistani set-up after an 8-month tenure with the National Team. Being hired in May 2023 as the Head and Batting coach along with Mickey Arthur, who operated as the Director.

Grant Bradburn
Grant Bradburn (Image via ESPN)

The duo were hired with the aim to compete in the 2023 Asia Cup and 2023 ODI World Cup, but had disastrous tournaments. 

Bradburn later was made the high-performance coach in the National Cricket Academy, but resigned days before the New Zealand tour. As of now, the batting coach of the Pakistan team is Englishman Adam Hollioake. 

In case you missed: