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Ever since being promoted to the senior side, Pakistani left-armer Shaheen Shah Afridi hasn’t looked back.

When Shaheen came into the side, there was a question of who would be able to be the leader of this Pakistan attack.

The 23-year-old has answered these doubts with brilliant spells of bowling. One famous example that comes to mind is the T20 World Cup in 2021 where Pakistan played India in their opening game.

Any match between these two is high stakes, only a win will do for either side. On this occasion, which have been few and far between for the men in green, Pakistan would come out on top on the day.

This was in a massive part due to Afridi’s opening spell in this game. India’s key batsmen Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul were dismissed cheaply, in Shaheen’s trademark fashion too.

That trademark ball is the young and tall Shaheen Shah Afridi, who comes charging in left-arm over the wicket.

The opening batsmen, 99% of the time know what’s coming, but by then it’s too late. Either the batsmen has had their toe crushed or have lost their middle stump.

Afridi, in our opinion, has become so synonymous with getting early breakthroughs, that other countries are copying the trick.

Before, teams in the limited over game would have a slow left-arm bowler, who is accurate and in the case of Imad Wasim and others be deceptive in the way they deliver balls.

Wasim was, and still is very deceptive in the way he bowls his left-arm spinners over the wicket. West Indies had Sunil Badrinath for example.

Just going back to the example of fast left-arm bowlers, New Zealand have Trent Boult who is maybe not quite as dangerous as Shaheen but is no stranger to picking up an early scalp in limited-overs cricket.

Australia have Mitchell Starc and South Africa have Marco Jansen/Wayne Parnell.

All I am saying is, that although it might not be directly due to Shaheen Shah, other teams have realised the value of opening up with a left-arm quick.

The angles that left-arm seamers can get, make them a valuable asset, simply because the majority of batsmen tend to be right-handed and the lefties get natural angles which is a nightmare for right-handers.
Do you agree with my take? Do let us know in the comments.

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