EXCLUSIVE: Pakistan's eagle Shaheen Shah Afridi ready to prey on the Proteas, says Khan

The clear and present danger facing the Proteas on their upcoming Test tour of Pakistan may be the prospect of raging turning pitches and dual spin threat of the hosts, but the return of star left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi is ominous.

Afridi, who is also commonly known as ‘The Eagle’, was left behind when Pakistan visited South Africa last year. The 25-year-old, though, seemed to be reaching peak form again in the recent Asia Cup in the UAE and has now earned a recall to the Test squad.

“I can't particularly say one thing has happened, but he bowled very, very well in the Asia Cup. And the pace was up,” former Pakistan Test cricketer and renowned commentator Bazid Khan exclusively told Independent Media from Lahore on Wednesday.

“Obviously a different format of T20. But when Shaheen Afridi is running in and his pace is sort of going over 140, you know that he's bowling well. 

“Everybody was surprised that he didn't go to South Africa. He is the leader of the attack.”

But with all the focus on spin duo Noman Ali and Sajid Khan, who claimed 39 wickets between them in two Tests against England last year, will Shaheen Afridi still be effective on the spin-friendly surfaces expected at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium and Rawalpindi Stadium? 

“I think even here we saw that in the West Indies series, Jayden Seals got wickets up front with the new ball sort of just nipping around a little,” Khan said.

“It will be interesting if Shaheen does play, how (Pakistan captain) Shan Masood handles him and how he bowls him.

“Because normally he bowled a couple of overs and then it was down to the spinners. But I reckon they looked at his bowling form rather than anything else.

“There's a lot of talk of him being managed, his workload management. I don't think that he's played a lot of Test cricket in the recent past, so I think his workload is fine.”

Khan also welcomed the return of Pakistan’s premier batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan after the duo spent the past month playing franchise cricket in the Caribbean Premier League whilst the Asia Cup was in progress. 

“I think Babar has got such a big fanfare in Pakistan. Everybody is a Babar fan and he's got such a huge following that whenever he goes out to bat or whenever he plays any sort of game, there's sort of that expectation that Babar will get runs,” Khan said.

“Everybody is hoping that he gets into form. But it will be tough if you get on surfaces which don't allow for runs scoring.

“Rizwan is still one-day white-ball captain. So, I think there'll be a little less pressure on Rizwan because he's got two facets to his game. He's a wonderful keeper and on these surfaces, he's the one that you want behind the stumps.

“Babar will be slightly different. Whatever the surfaces, whatever difficulty there is, he'll want to score runs.

“And like I said, everybody in Pakistan wants Babar to score runs. It is a boost to the batting line-up to have him back.”