"Is This Really Pakistan...": New T20I Captain Shaheen Afridi's Strange Claim Over Falling Speed vs Australia

Pakistan went down without putting a fight against Australia in the three-match Test series, suffering a 0-3 whitewash Down Under against the Pat Cummins-led side. The biggest loophole in their performance was the poor the outing of the pacers, including new T20I captain Shaheen Afridi, who was rested for the final game of the series in Sydney due to workload management. Star pacer Shaheen, who is set to lead the team in a five-match T20I series against New Zealand, has conceded that the performance of the pacers, including himself, was "disheartening".

Pakistan bowlers struggled on the pace-friendly tracks while there Australian counterparts -- Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood -- put on a show.

"To be honest, we were ourselves looking at the speed o' meters and wondering, is this really us? Because we were unable to understand that despite putting in all the effort, the speeds were not going up. Seeing 130-132 KPH was disheartening and we thought this was pre-decided that we won't go above 130KPH," Shaheen said on the eve of the first T20I.

As he gets set to lead Pakistan for the first time as regular captain, Shaheen hinted at some big changes for the series-opener in Auckland's Eden Park.

"Some young players are making a comeback like Azam Khan, Aamer Jamal and Sahibzada Farhan and there are some new players like Haseebullah and Abbas Afridi. We are hoping to give them a chance in these five T20Is and upcoming T20I matches ahead of World Cup," he added.

The 23-year-old also stressed the need to assess different combinations in the 17 matches leading up to the World Cup.

"Babar and Rizwan will always be the best opening pair for Pakistan. I think we have 17 matches before the World Cup, and we should try