Pakistan fast-bowling is world’s best: Shahid Afridi

Pakistan great Shahid Afridi has declared his former side’s pace attack as the best in the world and has high expectations of what they can deliver at next month’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

The 2009 T20 World Cup champions have included five quality fast bowlers in their 15-player squad for the ninth edition of the tournament, with left-armer Shaheen Afridi to spearhead a pace attack alongside Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abbas Afridi and Mohammad Amir.

It’s that depth in the fast-bowling ranks that has Shahid Afridi excited about Pakistan’s prospects at this year’s T20 World Cup which will be co-hosted by the USA and West Indies and has the former star all-rounder excited by what lies ahead.

“I think in any cricket team in the world, nobody has such a strong bowling line-up,” Afridi boldly declared.

“All our four fast bowlers have a lot of skill and even the bowlers sitting on the bench like Abbas (Afridi)…has a lot of skill with a good slower ball.

“If the players with such good skills enter this World Cup against world-class batters they will perform well. All the names will also have a huge responsibility over them.”

Pakistan finished as runners-up at the most recent edition of the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022 and Afridi believes the team can at least match that effort this time around.