I've never got the impression that Shaheen has an injury: Shahid Afridi

Legendary Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi stated that he did not believe Shaheen Shah Afridi carried an injury despite the drop in pace. Pakistan are currently on their tour in Australia for a three-match Test series which is part of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 cycle.

The former cricketer stated that the team expects more from the star players of the side, particularly Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen. He further emphasized that it will be problematic for those who won't manage their consistency in the sport.

"I've never got the impression that Shaheen has an injury. If you're injured you can't play as a fast bowler. He knows his responsibility and how important he is to the team. The fast bowlers, we are expecting a lot from them because they've done well in the past. Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen etc. have performed so well we expect them to perform in every match. Relentless consistency is challenging in cricket," Afridi was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

The 46-year-old continued by saying that Pakistan won't be able to make the right choices if their bench is weak. 

"I have always said that unless our bench is strong we won't be able to take the best decisions. The A team should be as strong as the main team, so if Shaheen or Babar or Rizwan aren't strong, we shouldn't have the excuses of players being unavailable, like we do with Naseem now. When our bench is strong, we will no longer have excuses," he added.

Australia take unassailable lead in Test series against Pakistan

Australia took an unassailable l2-0 ead the three-match series against Pakistan, registering a hard-fought win in the second Test at MCG after a big win in Perth. Speaking of the second Test, the hosts put the visitors in a challenging position in the fourth innings. Chasing a target of 317, Australia bundled out Shan Masood's men by 237 runs to register a 79-run win. Pat Cummins and Mithcell Starc excelled with the ball in the fourth innings, picking up five and four wickets, respectively.