'Shaheen Afridi Is A Top-10 Batter': Pakistan Cricket Board Chief Zaka Ashraf Commits Comical Error At Asia Cup Event

21.07.2023 - 06:15 sports.ndtv.com

The Asia Cup 2023 schedule was announced on Wednesday. Asian Cricket Council (ACC) head Jay Shah, who is also the BCCI secretary, was the first to announce the schedule.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), co-hosts of the continental event, also organised an unveiling ceremony to announce the schedule with its head Zaka Ashraf present on the occasion along with former Pakistan players.

There, Ashraf inadvertently committed a comical blunder. When talking about the potential of Pakistan in ODIs, he mistakenly called fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, a top 10 batter. "There is strength in both our batting and bowling.

If you talk about batting, our captain [Babar Azam] is number one [ranked batter] in the world. If you talk about others, then Pakistan batters are among the top-five [in the rankings]," Ashraf said during the ceremony, a video of which is available on PCB's YouTube channel. "If you talk about Shaheen Shah Afridi, his name comes in the top 10 batters.

cricket Pakistan Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Board cup Shaheen Afridi Jay Shah Zaka Ashraf India Sri Lanka Pakistan Nepal

Last month, after much wait, the Asia Cup 2023 schedule was finally announced by Jay Shah, BCCI secretary and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) head. The timings of the matches were announced on Tuesday. This time the tournament is being played in a hybrid model, after Shah declared last year that India would not be travelling to Pakistan for the event. The tournament will begin with a match between Pakistan and Nepal in Multan, Pakistan, on August 30. The much-awaited India-Pakistan clash will take place in Kandy, Sri Lanka, on September 2. India will face Nepal in the other group stage match on September 4 at the same venue.

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The 'sasur-damad' duo of Shaheen Afridi and Shahid Afridi has some great connection between them. Shaheen is currently playing in The Hundred tournament in England while Shahid is featuring in the Global T20 Canada. The two players are thousands of miles away from each other but they showed some uncanny similarity when they picked wickets during their respective matches on the same day. Both the players picked two wickets apiece and the manner in which they celebrated the wickets was identical.

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Watch: Shaheen Afridi Breathes Fire On Hundred Debut, Gets 2 In 2 Balls With Precision Yorkers

Welsh Fire started their Hundred 2023 campaign on a positive note as they registered a nine-run victory over Manchester Originals in a rain-curtailed match on Wednesday. Due to the rain, the match was reduced to 40 overs-per side and Welsh posted a total of 94/3 after being asked to bat first. Later, the Originals were restricted to 85/4 with Shaheen Afridi and David Willey scalping two wickets each. The match turned out to be a memorable one for Shaheen as the Pakistan spearhead took two wickets in his first over.