Pakistan’s choice to give a rest to their star fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi for the third and final Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday faced major criticism from cricket legends Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.
Afridi stood out as the top-performing bowler for Pakistan in the preceding two Test matches. Both matches were won by Australia and they secured the Benaud-Qadir Trophy. The Pakistan team management’s choice to rest Shaheen from the Sydney Test is presumed to be influenced by the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand.
Former captain Akram, however, disagreed with the decision. He criticized Shaheen and asserted that it was the left-arm fast bowler who “solely” made the decision, and it was not the choice of the team management.
While talking to FOX Cricket, Akram said, “It had nothing to do with the management. It was “solely [Shaheen’s] decision.”
Akram said players will have to look “if you want to be a great of the game or do you want to be a millionaire”.
Akram further said, “Straight after this there are five T20s in New Zealand, and Shaheen’s the captain. But in T20 cricket, who cares? I understand it’s there for entertainment and it’s there for financial gain for cricket boards, for players, but cricketers should know that Test cricket is the ultimate.”
“If we talk about what happened 20 years ago in this Test in Sydney, nobody knows what happened last night in T20. That’s the difference. These guys have to understand and learn if you want to be a great of the game or do you want to be a millionaire. You can become both but with a little more sense.”
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Waqar Younis found it nonsense and said, “We play for Test match cricket,” he said, talking to Channel 7 on the morning of the first day. “We don’t play for T20s or one-day cricket. And if you’re missing Test match cricket purely because you are being rested, I do not understand.”
“That’s a real shocker for me because I was expecting him to be a part of this Test match because he looked good in the previous match. He started feeling like the old Shaheen Afridi and started to swing the ball and the pace was getting better.”
