Ahead of a very important fixture against Australia, the Pakistan spearhead fast bowler Shaheen Afridi and three other players are down with fever due to viral, reports said on Tuesday.
Having lost to India by a big margin, Pakistan are looking to revive their World Cup 2023 campaign when they will take on Australia on Friday in Bangalore.
However, three days out from the game, it has been revealed that four players, including Shaheen Afridi, are very ill.
It’s been learned that more than just these players got fever, but most of them have recovered. However, Shaheen Afridi, leg-spinner Usama Mir, opener Abdullah Shafique, and fast bowler Zaman Khan are more ill than others. And their complete recovery could take a day or two more. For this, Pakistan management also canceled their practice session on Tuesday.
“Some players got fever in the past few days and most of them have fully recovered from it. Those who are in the stage of recovery remain under the medical panel’s observation,” Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi, the PCB Media Manager, was quoted as saying.
Reports revealed that the Pakistani players got a viral bacterial infection after landing in Bangalore for the PAK vs AUS game. Usama Mir, who is yet to play in this tournament, was reportedly “seriously ill for four to five days but he has now recovered.”
Is Shaheen Afridi injured?
Rumors of Shaheen Afridi’s fitness have been spreading on social media. Former fast bowler Waqar Younis also brought up this point. Shaheen has not looked at his best with the ball and has been down on pace: he’s mostly been bowling around 135 kph while he could reach speeds around and over 145 kph.
Waqar Younis feels that Shaheen is overdoing and lacks discipline.
“I don’t know if there is a problem with his fitness. The missing link in his bowling is discipline and he is over trying to get wickets,” Waqar was quoted as saying by AFP. “When you do the same thing again and again, like Shaheen is bowling to get his yorker going, then batsmen know that and they are ready for it.”
