Here is the full transcript of Shaheen Afridi’s press conference after the Super 8 clash between Pakistan and England in Pallekele.
(Reporter:)
You are off to a good start. You scored 35 for 3. You didn’t take Harry Brook’s wicket. How good was Harry Brook’s innings?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
I think this will be the best innings of his life. He should be credited for playing a proper cricket shot. The goal was not easy. If we look at his batsmen, they all struggled. But looking at his knock, it should be acknowledged.
(Reporter:)
Shaheen, you made a great comeback. You couldn’t play in the last match. You have been released. You scored four goals. How about this? And secondly, the Pakistani team was defeated again. Pakistan has a similar situation in every World Cup. Are we making the mistakes to get stuck at the World Cup? We have lost many games in the past.
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
These things happen in cricket. But we are still in the tournament, anything can happen. We think we will get this one opportunity – we should win this game first and foremost. We’ll see. I hope New Zealand lose their match. Yes, you said I was out, but my focus is to work on my bowling, how to come back, how to work on my bowling and maintain my normal stuff so that I can perform well in the match.
(Reporter:)
I want to talk to you about Pakistan’s batting innings. If you look at the 12th over, Pakistan were 84 for 3. In comparison, England had a lead of about 20 runs, although they lost 2 more wickets. But if you look back at Pakistan’s innings, what was the approach when they slowed down in the middle overs and what was the discussion on that podium in the dressing room?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
I feel you need a partnership on a wicket like this and you need someone like an established batsman in that position who can bat through the middle overs. But unfortunately we lost back-to-back wickets and that’s why we didn’t go for a score of 180 – 190. But yeah, when you see one side, Harry Brook, the way they’re going, the wicket is out, but he was still at the crease and spinning the strike and just building partnerships. I think we missed this opportunity to partner. Yeah, we just missed that opportunity.
(Reporter:)
A few words about Babar’s innings as he was actually building a nice partnership with Farhan but once his dismissals started it went downhill after that.
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
The look of the partnership means someone you have to have at the wicket who can hit that ball and go for a single or a double and in all of T20 cricket you need eight, nine overs if you want to build a partnership as well. I think the middle phase Adil played the ball really well so I think the credit goes to him as well.
(Reporter:)
You shook Harry Brooks’ hand as he walked off the field. Can you explain why you did this?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
He deserved it because he had world class innings in his life. I think it’s the best shift. Harry and I had a very good friendship and we played together in the PSL as well as he played with us for Lahore Qalandars and I think the innings that anyone played you should appreciate that.
(Reporter:)
And what can you tell us about the quality of his hitting the ball from a pitcher’s perspective today?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
I have never seen a batsman like him. Today he was properly prepared to be hit by every ball. So I think he was well prepared for us.
(Reporter:)
The pitch, the ball seems to stop a bit, but it didn’t seem to make any difference with him.
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
I think there was dew later on so it’s easy to hit the bat, so that’s why we struggled a bit in those last overs.
(Reporter:)
Shaheen you became the highest wicket taker for Pakistan in this match but you lost the match. how do you feel about it?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
Feeling sad.
(Reporter:)
He became Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker.
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
Feeling sad
(Reporter:)
Shaheen, you didn’t play two games in the World Cup. There is a lot of talk in the media that the pace has dropped. You just talked about improving yourself. In this you started to focus more on the length that you should vary it? Because even today the wickets were a bit more on the back of the length. And secondly, how has the communication been from management, how can you cement your place in the team?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
I don’t need a place. I always try – there was always room for improvement and I always tried to give my best for Pakistan cricket. It doesn’t matter if I get sacked, my job is to go and give 100% for my team whenever I get the chance.
(Reporter:)
What about lengths? Are you trying to vary it more now?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
Look, if the wicket depends on the length, why not go for long balls? They were fighting and I was just trying to mix the same length.
(Reporter:)
When you come back from the team, all the players have something to prove. Do you feel like that helped you get back into the rhythm today and do what you were doing for the rest of the power play when you first started it when you got the wicket?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
Whenever I play, my job is to take the wicket early. Because that’s why I’m the first to go bowling. And he always tried whenever I got a chance to take a wicket for Pakistan. And today I was just planning – how can I take a wicket? And I don’t want to make anyone better. Like, I was just getting better. And you have to improve every time.
(Reporter:)
Tell us, should we blame the dew or were the runs short. We saw you struggling a bit with the dew. You understand that the goal was defensible, we could have easily defended it. And only Sahibzada Farhan was seen scoring runs in the top order. Rest, whether it’s seniors or juniors, runs don’t score as much. So you understand that our players have not taken responsibility as they should have?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
Look, if I were you, you’d obviously blame everyone. And you would say they all made a mistake. Sahibzada is playing better cricket. Like Harry Brooks he played well today. Will Jacks has played well in all three games but he didn’t play well today. But you have to play wickets like I said, you need a partnership. You have to play long crickets all the time. You need 170-180 runs to defend on such pitches. There is no guilt about anything. I think we should always improve and take responsibility for cricket.
(Reporter:)
Shaheen, you are an ODI captain and have also been a franchise captain. When you look at Mike Hesson’s coaching, a lot depends on the all-rounders. I think Shadab also said that it is very much aimed at all-rounders. Do you agree with this philosophy? Or How important is the role of a specialist in T20s?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
A tough question. Look, he’s got a mindset, he’s a head coach. I think he knows better than us how to lead a team. And he is responsible for it. I can’t give you an answer.
(Reporter:)
Are you surprised that Harry Brook leaves at three? Did it disrupt your momentum or your plans at all?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
It didn’t surprise me actually, but the way he took the responsibility as captain, it was the best innings he played. Change of captains. Harry Brookes had a few chances but he played test cricket throughout and improved his cricket a lot. So I think he had a very good innings today.
(Reporter:)
You played with Harry Brook in the PSL. How has he improved since then?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
I think if we picked him in the PSL, yeah, that’s fine. When we picked him in PSL Lahore, Harry Brooks, I don’t think he was playing for England at that time. He has just played county cricket and possibly under-19 cricket. But he has been playing in Asian wickets all along and has actually improved a lot. In the middle was number four, number five. Number three came today. I think you need a leader who can take charge in the big games. He improved a lot and showed us how he can bat.
(Reporter:)
There seems to be a lot of mistakes on both sides in both innings, in the field, catches and fumbles, and each other. What was going on out there?
(Shaheen Shah Afridi:)
Yeah, we missed him in the field. We performed well throughout the tournament, but today there was a missed collapse.
