'Truly worthy successor' - Shahid Afridi as Shaheen Shah Afridi set to sport famed No. 10 jersey

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday (16 September) unveiled their new jersey for the ODI format for their upcoming series against New Zealand starting on Friday (17 September). The jersey has its traditional color green on it and has two shades of dark and lighter versions. PCB shared the pictures of Babar Azam, Mohammed Rizwan, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi donning the new jerseys.

As only the front profile of the four players was seen, their jersey numbers were not visible. But pacer Shaheen has shared a picture on his official Twitter account revealing his jersey number and it had the famed number 10. Legendary former Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi wore this jersey and made it quite memorable by winning games for his country. Considered a hero and also worshipped many by Pakistan fans, Afridi sported the No. 10 jersey for more than 15 years.

Often in sport, whenever a legendary player announces retirement, their jersey is also deemed to be retired. While some of the players have also worn the retired player’s jersey. Michael Clarke wore Shane Warne’s number 23 jersey in the shorter formats. Speaking about Shaheen, he might have wanted to carry forward the legacy of Shahid Afridi and so he took the opportunity to have the number imprinted on his jersey.

The left-arm pacer took to his Twitter account to share this and wrote how honored he is to sport this jersey. As soon as Shaheen shared the post, Shahid congratulated him and wrote that he is truly a worthy successor to carry forward his legacy.

I wore this shirt with great honour and pride, I'm delighted that the #10 shirt will now be worn by Shaheen.who is a truly worthy successor! Shaheen I wish you the very best, continue to rise and wear 🇵🇰 colours with the greatest pride. https://t.co/A6CdfcG467

— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) September 16, 2021

Pakistan-New Zealand to play eight white-ball matches

Meanwhile, Pakistan are set to face New Zealand at home for eight white-ball games. The two teams will play three ODIs, and will later compete in a five-match T20I series starting from September 25.

While the Blackcaps are without their top players, they do surely have backup players to do well in the Pakistani conditions. New Zealand have also played on similar conditions in Bangladesh during their five-match T20I series and that could have helped them to get used to the spin conditions on offer during their ODI and T20I series in Pakistan.

Speaking about the home team, they will be looking to make the most of this opportunity and try to fix combinations for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup.