Shaheen Shah Afridi, the star pitcher for Pakistan, landed awkwardly on his right knee while attempting to take a catch during Sunday’s T20 World Cup final in Melbourne. He has been recommended to rest for two weeks.
Shaheen returned to bowl after the impact, but he was only able to produce one delivery, which was far from his best work. The left-arm fast bowler then had to abandon his third over, which was the 15th of the innings, in the T20 World Cup final defeat to England. The lanky fast bowler had undergone an expedited recovery from a knee ligament injury he sustained in July when he entered the World Cup. Experts in medicine say that if he experiences another fright during the final, his career, at the age of only 22, maybe in jeopardy.
Shaheen’s scan, which was performed on Monday before the squad left for Pakistan, revealed “no evidence of an injury,” and the discomfort in his knee was probably “due to a forced knee flexion when landing,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) stated in a press release today. It said that Australian knee specialist Dr. Peter D’Alessandro and PCB Chief Medical Officer Dr. Najeebullah Soomro reviewed the scans. The cricket board reported that “the left-arm fast bowler is doing well and is in great spirits.” Shaheen, it continued, will spend a few days at the National High-Performance Centre undergoing a “rehabilitation and conditioning program” meant to strengthen his knee.
According to the press statement, Shaheen’s comeback to international cricket is conditioned on finishing the rehabilitation program successfully and receiving the all-clear from the medical team. Meanwhile, authorities have criticized the PCB’s medical panel out of concern that Shaheen’s career may be in danger. Shaheen would need three to four months to heal, according to Dr. Sohail Salim, the former chief medical officer of the Pakistan Cricket Board, who spoke to Dawn after yesterday’s final. Shaheen would miss six to seven months of work if the PCB’s medical board decided to operate.
In any case, Shaheen’s expected absence from two significant upcoming home Test series against England and New Zealand, according to Sohail, raises concerns about the effectiveness of the PCB’s existing medical panel. It should be investigated to see if the PCB medical panel handled Shaheen’s injury improperly, according to Sohail. Sarfaraz Nawaz, a former fast bowler for Pakistan, was hopeful that Shaheen would soon be able to bowl again but regretted the PCB’s selection of the pacer for the World Cup team despite his lack of match experience.
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