Pakistan announced their squad for the home Test series against West Indies. It is clearly a tough team as all the front-line spinners are back after missing the tour of South Africa.
However, a big surprise was the omission of star fast bowler Shaheen Afridi. Afridi did not find a place in a team that had only two fast bowlers in the form of Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Ali.
Shaheen was not even picked in Pakistan's Test squad for the tour of South Africa, where conditions were more conducive to seamers. He continues to be ignored, which has raised questions about his future in Test cricket.
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Is Shaheen Afridi's Test career over?
Pakistan's top fast bowlers in the white-ball format, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah, have been retained for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025, a source has claimed. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) wants both bowlers in their best form for the tournament .
“The selectors want Shaheen (Afridi) and even Naseem (Shah) at their best in the Champions Trophy as it is a 50-over competition and we are the defending champions,” the source was quoted as saying by PTI.
It should be noted that Naseem Shah, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas and Aamer Jamal have been dropped from Pakistan's squad for the home Test series against West Indies. All these bowlers were part of the tour of South Africa, which Pakistan lost 0-2 to the hosts.
The source also claimed that Shaheen rested due to the hectic schedule. With Pakistan already out of contention for the WTC final, the selection panel did not want Afridi to be considered for the Tests and wanted him to focus on the white-ball formats.
“But for the West Indies series there was no point in fielding him as both teams are out of this cycle of the final World Test Championship competition and the selectors are planning to pitch in Multan,” he added source.
Shaheen Afridi's role in Pakistan's ODI series win in South Africa
Shaheen Afridi is Pakistan's number one fast bowler in white ball cricket along with Naseem Shah. Although the left-arm quick has been dropped from the Test format, he continues to play an influential role in both ODIs and T20Is.
Afridi was part of the Pakistan squad for the ODI and T20I series in South Africa and performed quite well. He took 3 wickets in two T20Is and 7 wickets in three ODIs. He also helped Pakistan achieve a historic clean sweep over South Africa in the ODI series.
Shaheen Afridi's numbers in test cricket
Shaheen Afridi played 31 Tests and took 116 wickets at an average of 27.88. He was Pakistan's number one bowler in all formats until last year. However, his performance dipped sharply, especially in the Test format.
He was eventually dropped from Pakistan's Test squad for the second Test against England last year as the team moved towards preparing more spin-friendly surfaces. He has since dropped out of the Test team. However, the 24-year-old confirmed that he is ready to play the Test format as well.