Shaheen Afridi Joins Kandy Royals for LPL Campaign

This week marks the start of Shaheen Afridi‘s first game in the Lanka Premier League. The fast bowler has received a NOC to compete in the competition, the PCB announced to Cricinfo. He’ll represent the Kandy Royals.

After a lacklustre performance in the format, Afridi was left out of Pakistan’s squads for the Test matches against the West Indies and England earlier this month. With Pakistan selection and high-performance director Aaqib Javed stating earlier this month that “a player has to pick which format he wants to play,” the 26-year-old has recently been seen as having a stronger preference for white-ball cricket. The LPL and the Tests against the West Indies collide.

Shaheen Afridi was excluded from the second Test match against Bangladesh in Sylhet and was just named in the ongoing white-ball camp at the National Cricket Academy, even though the red-ball camp was held concurrently.

Shaheen Afridi led Pakistan to a 2-1 series victory over Australia at home last month after being elected the country’s ODI captain last year. Alongside left-arm orthodox Arafat Minhas, who made his debut in the first of the three ODIs, and Nathan Ellis, he shared the top spot in wicket-taking with seven victories at 12.14 runs each.

In the past year, Shaheen Afridi has made two appearances in international T20 leagues.

He represented the Brisbane Heat in the most recent BBL. Despite getting just two wickets at an average of 76.50 in four games, his run was forgettable. With 362 wickets at 20.99 and an economy rate of 7.97, Afridi is still in high demand on the T20 circuit. With an average of 21.35 and an economy of 7.83, no bowler from Pakistan has taken more than 136 wickets in Twenty20 Internationals.

The LPL will take place between July 17 and August 8. against July 18, the Kandy Royals take against the Dambulla Sixers in their maiden game.