3 Pakistani players who can replace Shaheen Afridi in case he fails to recover before T20 World Cup

Even though Shaheen Shah Afridi is a part of the Pakistan squad for the T20 World Cup, his fitness is still a matter of concern. The 22-year-old suffered an injury to his right knee ligament and was ruled out of the Asia Cup 2022. He will be out for a few more weeks but is expected to regain full fitness and make his return for the global tournament.

Thus, the player will have very little time to prepare before the tournament begins in Australia. Will he be fit on time, is a big question and nobody really has an answer. The premier pacer is the face of Pakistan’s bowling line-up and given the conditions in Australia, Shaheen can cause a lot of damage. However, what if he indeed misses out? Will Pakistan be able to replace the speedster with another quality talent in the squad?

Here are three cricketers who can replace Afridi if required:

3. Shahnawaz Dahani

Not picking Shahnawaz Dahani for the T20 World Cup was a surprising move from the Pakistan team. He is a part of the reserves and will be the front-runner to replace Shaheen if he fails to recover in time. 

The 24-year-old bowled well in the recently concluded Asia Cup and has a good record in domestic T20 cricket as well. In 33 domestic T20 matches, Dahani has scalped 49 wickets at an economy of 8.19. On the other hand, his international numbers are much better as in his four T20I games thus far, the speedster has bowled at an economy rate of 6.38.

He can bowl at 140 km/hr and that adds value to his wicket-taking ability. He, however, is prone to injury and that’s a negative factor. Along with other pacers, Dahani can be the 'X' factor for the Pakistan team in the years to come and for that, he definitely needs to work on his fitness.