Shaheen Afridi’s Hilarious Interaction With Rishabh Pant Has Gone Viral: Pakistani pacer Shaheen Afridi recently interacted with a number of Indian cricket stars in Dubai. Even though Shaheen is not part of Pakistan’s squad for the Asia Cup 2022 – ruled out last week due to a knee injury – the fast bowler is with the Pakistani contingent in Dubai.
During training sessions of the teams on Thursday, Shaheen met with a number of Indian cricketers -Yuzvendra Chahal, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli – all of whom queried about the seamer’s injury status and wished him a speedy recovery.
Shaheen Afridi’s hilarious interaction with Rishabh Pant goes viral
As Pant came to meet Afridi, the Pakistan pacer hilariously said, “Yaar main soch raha hu aapki tarah bas batting shuru kar du, ek haath se chhakke lagaau” (I’m thinking of becoming a batter like you, start hitting sixes with a single hand).
Both of them smiled heartily at this ambition of Shaheen, to which Pant replied, “fast bowler ho toh effort lagaana padega sir! Compulsory hai (If you’re a fast bowler, you have to put in efforts. It’s compulsory).
The PCB uploaded this video which has gotten love from fans of both the countries. You can watch Pant’s interaction with Afridi from 1:10.
Stars align ahead of the #AsiaCup2022
A high-profile meet and greet on the sidelines
pic.twitter.com/c5vsNCi6xw
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) August 25, 2022
The off-the-field camaraderie between India and Pakistan players has got the fans adoring them, with Virat Kohli recently meeting Babar Azam and the pair shaking hands and looking all jovial.
Indian fans relieved after Shaheen Afridi ruled out of Asia Cup 2022
Last week, the PCB had announced the update about Afridi’s knee injury which he’d sustained while fielding in a Test match vs Sri Lanka, and that the fast bowler will miss the Asia Cup 2022. PCB have named young fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain as Shaheen’s replacement.
Shaheen Afridi was the wrecker-in-chief against India during their meeting at the T20 World Cup last year, dismissing India’s top three: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli as the Men In Blue succumbed to a 10-wicket defeat.
The two teams will clash on Sunday, August 28, in Dubai – the same venue where Babar Azam’s team thrashed the Men In Blue last year.
Speaking of Rishabh Pant, the left-hander has been in delectable form – he cracked two centuries on the tour of England (one in Test and one in ODI); then in the 4 T20Is in West Indies, Pant scored 115 runs at a strike rate of 141.
Here are the squads of India and Pakistan:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan. Standbys: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir.
