Shaheen Afridi reveals how he plotted KL Rahul’s dismissal with ‘special ball’

Before bagging the wickets of Rohit and Rahul, Shaheen went to Pakistan’s veteran player Shoaib Malik and he suggested him to bowl the length delivery.

Shaheen spoke to The Telegraph and said, “I asked Shoaib, can I bowl fuller? He said to me ‘Shaheen, don’t bowl fuller, just try to bowl length here, yeah?’ So I said, yeah not too much swing first over, so let me try to bowl the ball”.

He also added, “Shoaib is playing for 22 years for Pakistan. He’s played a lot of cricket – he knows everything because every conditions, he played in. And he is playing for Pakistan for so many years. He has the experience and so that’s why I asked him which ball shall I bowl to Rahul”.

After rattling Rahul’s stumps, Shaheen went to Shoiab and thanked him and gave all credit to the senior player.

Talking about Rohit Sharma’s wicket, Shaheen said, “We all know Rohit Sharma is such a dangerous player”.

“In my mind, I keep bowling yorkers and maybe he’s troubled.

“When Rahul got the single and Rohit came on strike, my mind straight away said I can bowl this yorker. Maybe he misses. If there’s a little bit of swing I can get him.” With a rapid delivery from over-the-wicket that curved back into Rohit, Shaheen only needed one ball.

India were restricted for 151 runs and Babar Azam and Md Rizwan sailed Pakistan to a historic win by 10 wickets.