Shaheen Afridi spoke about his furious altercation with the opponent batter Matthew Breetzske during their One-Day International tri-nation series match with South Africa on Wednesday. The skirmish taken place in the match’s first inning, during the 28th over while Shaheen deliberately ran ahead of the batter, who had gone for the single. Shaheen was charged with pushing him unnecessarily and heated exchanges followed. Shaheen agreed to his taunts of the South African batter in a bid to get him off his game and snag his wicket. He said the beef was really on the field, and off it, they embraced and smiled at each other.
In his remarks, Shaheen said: “For the first time, Matthew said nothing. I bust him to get a wicket. What happened on the field remained there. Matthew met and we shook hands and carried on well from there!” Geo News quoted the Pakistani quickie.
After the incident involving the bowler, Shaheen was fined 25 percent of his match fee for an inappropriate act upon batter Breetzke, for which he was said to be in breach of Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which states: “Inappropriate physical contact with a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee, or any other person (including a spectator) during an International Match.”
Aside from his fiery encounter with Breetzke, Shaheen talked recently regarding Pakistan’s woes in the death overs of an inning, with the other exposing in the ongoing tri-nation series.
In a series opener against New Zealand, Shaheen and Naseem Shah were required to set the death overs. Glenn Phillips decimated Pakistan’s ace guns to save 71 runs in just four overs.
The fast bowlers from Pakistan were hit by the same stick during the game against South Africa. Naseem, Mohammad Hasnain, and Khushdil Shah were asked to finish executed the last four overs. The trio conceded 46 runs and took South Africa to 352-5, which somehow seemed monstrous at the crease.
“There was a clear recognition that we are not executing well during our fielding in the final overs,” said Shaheen regarding Pakistan’s performance with the ball in the death overs.
