Shaheen Shah Afridi. The name will be remembered by Indians for generations. This 21-year-old Pakistani pacer has become the primary reason behind his team’s historic win against India last night in the T20 World Cup. Afridi’s brilliant spell resulted in Pakistan’s first victory against India in any World Cup. For his superlative performance, the speedster was awarded the Player of the Match for the game.
After losing the toss, India was asked to bat first. There were heavy expectations on openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul to give us a big start. However, Shaheen Afridi spoiled all Indians’ hopes by dismissing Sharma right in the first over. The Indian vice-captain got out by LBW through a stunning yorker bowled by Afridi. In his very next over, Afridi broke the stumps behind Rahul with a dangerous inswinging yorker. Both Indian openers had no clue about how to face Afridi.
When India was looking set with Kohli getting into charge to finish the innings on a high note after completing his half-century, Afridi came back to the bowl and got the wicket of the Indian captain in the 19th over. Kohli got out by nicking his bat to a slow short ball, which eventually went into the hands of keeper Mohammad Rizwan.
Afridi ended his spell with dominating figures of 4-0-31-3. His stunning spell in the powerplay damaged India’s chances right at the beginning of the game. All the other teams in Group B must be careful while facing the young lad carefully as he is a star in the making.