{"id":357136,"date":"2024-01-02T23:30:28","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T00:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=357136"},"modified":"2024-01-03T03:02:21","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T03:02:21","slug":"i-just-dont-get-it-greats-slam-shock-pakistan-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=357136","title":{"rendered":"'I just don't get it': Greats slam shock Pakistan decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pakistan<\/a> and the touring party's spearhead, left-arm quick Shaheen Afridi, have\ufeff been blasted by Mark Waugh<\/a> and Wasim Akram<\/a> following the resting of the gun quick for the Sydney Test<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shaheen is not featuring in the final Test of the series, which got under way at the SCG on Wednesday, due to management of his workload, according to a Pakistan Cricket Board statement.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Wide World of Sports understands he's been rested for Pakistan's five-match T20 series against New Zealand, beginning in Auckland on January 12.<\/p>\n

LIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> Australia vs Pakistan, day one, third Test\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Warner's baggy greens stolen on eve of final Test\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Emotional' Nadal details 'toughest' year in career\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"He should be playing," Australian great Waugh said on Fox Cricket on the morning of day one.<\/p>\n

"It's an iconic Test match.<\/p>\n

"On a serious point, there's three Test matches in Australia, it's a big tour for Pakistan, they're 2-0 down. I know he's bowled some overs, but it's Test match cricket; it's tough, it's meant to be tough.<\/p>\n

\"Pakistan<\/p>\n

"And they could have bowled him in short spells in this particular Test match because the spinners are going to bowl a lot more overs here.<\/p>\n

"I just don't get it. He's your best bowler, he's the leader of the attack. He should be playing."<\/p>\n

Akram, a legendary Pakistan fast bowler\ufeff, claimed it was Shaheen's decision and scoffed at the relevance of T20 cricket.<\/p>\n

"That's solely his [Shaheen's] decision; nothing to do with management," Akram said on Fox Cricket.<\/p>\n

"Straight after this they're [playing] five T20s in New Zealand and he's the captain. But T20 cricket \u2014 who cares? I understand; it's there for entertainment, it's there for financial gain.<\/p>\n

"But cricketers\u00a0should know that Test cricket is the ultimate. We talk about what happened 20 years ago at this Test match here in Sydney. No body knows what happened last night in the T20 game. So Tests are different.<\/p>\n

"So these guys have to understand and learn: I really want to be a great of the game, I really want to become a billionaire."<\/p>\n

Shaheen's resting follows South Africa's controversial overhaul of its Test squad for February's tour of New Zealand<\/a>. Seven uncapped players were picked in a 14-man squad, including captain Neil Brand, because Cricket South Africa opted to keep its best cricketers in South Africa to bolster the country's franchise T20 tournament \u2014 a call that added to the threat facing Test cricket.<\/p>\n

\"Warner's<\/p>\n

Former Australian captain Steve Waugh, a passionate advocate of the welfare of the five-day game, slammed Cricket South Africa.<\/p>\n

"Obviously they don't care," Waugh told The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"If I was New Zealand I wouldn't even play the series. I don't know why they're even playing. Why would you when it shows a lack of respect for New Zealand cricket?<\/p>\n

"It's pretty obvious what the problem is. The West Indies aren't sending their full-strength side [to Austalia this summer]. They haven't picked a full-strength Test team for a couple of years now. Someone like Nicholas Pooran is really a Test batsman who doesn't play Test cricket. Jason Holder, probably their best player, is not playing now. Even Pakistan didn't send a full side [to Australia].<\/p>\n

"If the ICC or someone doesn't step in shortly then Test cricket doesn't become Test cricket because you're not testing yourself against the best players."<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Waugh added that many players were snubbing Test cricket because they weren't "getting paid properly". The former skipper's solution to that is having "a regulation fee for Test cricket which is a premium", so there's extra incentive to play the longest format of the game.<\/p>\n

Pakistan \ufeffcaptain Shan Masood explained the resting of Shaheen on the eve of the SCG Test.<\/p>\n

"Personally and as a team, we have never had any doubts when it comes to Shaheen," Masood said.<\/p>\n

"If you look at his records, he has bowled the highest number of overs in a while in world cricket. It is up to us to make sure he is looked after, physically and mentally … Fitness and workload impact performance.<\/p>\n

"Our all-format players have been playing continuous cricket for a while now; they have played three World Cups in the past three years while also playing the World Test Championship simultaneously. We have been trying to address this to balance match significance and workload."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pakistan and the touring party's spearhead, left-arm quick Shaheen Afridi, have\ufeff been blasted by Mark Waugh and Wasim Akram following the resting of the gun […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":357138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=357136"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":357143,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357136\/revisions\/357143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/357138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=357136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=357136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=357136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}