Pakistan cricket team has made bigger leaps in terms of achieving results in major tournaments in the recent past. The Shaheens made it to the knockout round twice in two editions of the Men’s T20 World Cup. However, they could not end their campaign on a high and lost the chance to lift the elusive trophy.
While Pakistan went down in the semifinals after losing to Australia at the 2021 T20 World Cup, the Babar Azam-led team could not overcome the England challenge in the summit clash of the 2022 T20 World Cup. Despite scripting one of the memorable turnarounds in the tournament, Pakistan faltered in the last game to see the trophy going to England.
One of the many reasons for Pakistan losing to England was an injury to their premium pacer Shaheen Afridi. The left-arm quick who got fit just in time to play the biennial event, could not complete his quota of overs after aggravating his knee injury in the summit clash. Meanwhile, England capitalized on this opportunity and easily chased down the target set by Pakistan to lift the title.
Shaheen was distraught but had full support from his teammates for his decision against continuing further. However, months after, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has made a baffling comment about Afridi’s injury. Akhtar has claimed that if it was him in that situation, he would have preferred dying rather than seeing the trophy going to the opposition.
During a chat show, Akhtar said that he would have taken injections and painkillers and would have completed his quota of over even if it meant breaking his leg.
“If was in his place, in those twelve minutes, I could have become a national hero. I would have stood up even if I fell every time I bowled. I would have taken injections and painkillers, to make that leg numb and bowl. If people would try to stop me saying ‘I will die’, I would have said that I will prefer to die but can’t let the World Cup slip off from our hands,” said Akhtar to Suno TV.
“This was the moment one could have become a superstar. If I was there, I would have died for my country. I could get my broken knee fixed but can’t bring that moment back,” he added.
As the video started doing the round on the internet, fans shared their views on Shoaib Akhtar’s comments.
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