Pakistan’s batting consultant and former Australian opening batsman Matthew Hayden has said that the Indian batsmen were used to facing 130 KPH bowling in the recently finished IPL and suddenly, they came across Shaheen Shah Afridi in the T20 World Cup who cranked up the speed of 145 KPH and swung the ball as well. So, it was not easy for the Indian batsmen to adjust.
While Hayden’s remark about Shaheen Shah Afridi is correct because he did swing the ball at a high pace, it’s surprising that he said high pace was not on display in the IPL. Bowlers like Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Lockie Ferguson and Jasprit Bumrah, all of whom can crank up high speeds were playing in the IPL for different teams and hence, the Indian batsmen regularly had to face high pace in the IPL.
Matthew Hayden himself was one of the Star Sports commentators, watching all the IPL action first hand. For him to make such a comment on the IPL games is surprising, despite the quality of bowlers on show in the tournament.
Matthew Hayden compared IPL bowlers with Shaheen Shah Afridi while talking to Fox Sports
Hayden was in conversation with one of Australia’s sports broadcasters, Fox Sports, where he was asked about India’s top-order batting in the Pakistan game, and he said Shaheen Shah Afridi came up with a challenge for India that they had not seen in the IPL.
“They (the Indian batters) had been facing 130 km/h deliveries for the last month during the IPL. It’s a different cup of tea when you are facing someone running and bowling at Shaheen Shah Afridi’s pace,” Hayden said while speaking exclusively to Fox Sports.
Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed both Indian openers in his first couple of overs itself and both were beaten by late swing in the air. While the delivery to Rohit Sharma was quite fuller in length and swung very late to trap him in front of stumps, the delivery to KL Rahul didn’t just swing, it seamed off the deck as well and Rahul was clean up.
