‘Main message karta hu. I don’t want people to forget him': Afridi reveals chat with Pakistan's star pacer
Shahid Afridi reveals chat with the out-of-favour Pakistan speedster, insisting that he keeps motivating the player to make a comeback to the national team.
Pakistan have a history of producing talented fast bowlers; in the 90s, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis dominated the fast bowling charts throughout the world and at the turn of the century, Shoaib Akhtar rattled the batters across the cricketing nations with his sheer pace. At present, Shaheen Afridi is widely regarded as one of the best fast bowlers going around but Pakistan enjoy a great bench strength in the domain – one of the pacers who had been the part of the side over the past few years but is currently out of favour with the national team is Hasan Ali.
Having made his debut in 2016, Hasan has represented Pakistan in 21 Tests, 60 ODIs, and 50 T20Is so far but was dropped from the team following the Asia Cup in October earlier this year.
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, however, believes Hasan can still make a comeback to the team and reveals that he messages the Pakistan pacer regularly, motivating him to make a return to the national setup. Afridi made the revelation after he was asked about Azhar Ali's retirement speech, where the latter mentioned the former Pakistan captain as the one who supported him throughout his playing career.
Afridi explained that it is important to support players – particularly when they are not performing well – as they are national heroes.
“Hasan team mein nahi hai. Lekin mujhe ye pata hai ki Hasan Ali ne Pakistan ke liye bohot achha perform kiya. Main nahi chahta ki log bhool jaayein usko. Meri abhi bhi baat hoti hai uss se, main khud se message karta hu usko ki himmat nahi haarni hai, comeback karna hai, domestic cricket ko seriously lena hai. Agar cricket khelna hai toh bas cricket hi khelna hai. (Hasan Ali is not in the team. But I know he has performed well for Pakistan. I don't want people to forget him. I still talk to him, message him and tell him to not lose hope. I tell him to make a comeback and take domestic cricket seriously.),” Afridi said on Samaa TV.
“As a senior player, aap apne juniors ko saath leke chalte ho. Achhe vaqt me toh har koi saath rehta hai, bure vaqt me agar koi saath khada ho toh achha rehta hai. Ye hamaare Pakistan ke heroes hain, ham nahi support karenge toh aur kaun karega (As a senior player, it's your responsibility to support your juniors. Everyone is with you in your good times, but it's important to give support during bad times too. These are Pakistan's heroes, if we don't support them, who will?).”
