Shahid Afridi, well known as Boom Boom or Lala all over the world, is ruled out of the remainder of PSL 2021, which was about to begin in Abu Dhabi.
In his tweet, he said “While training for the remainder of PSL, I felt lower back pain & had to consult a doctor. Unfortunately, I have been advised to rest and can no longer accompany my team Multan Sultans. I am heartbroken as I was practicing and training really hard.”
Afridi had suffered from lower back pain earlier in his career as well. This time he is sidelined with a lower-back injury as well as he felt pain in his lower back. Shahd Afridi no doubt was the most experienced player of Multan Sultans with 4395 T20 runs at a Strike of 154.21, he also has 344 t20 wickets to his name. Previous PSL teams for which Shahid Afridi played are Karachi Kings and Multan Sultans.
Shahid is been replaced by Asif Afridi. Asif is a left-arm spinner and had featured in domestic seasons for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But he might not get a chance to play because Usman Qadir is there as well, who is already a part of Pakistan’s national side.
Young Star Naseem Shah is also ruled out of PSL 2021, not because of any sort of injury. Naseem Shah breached Covid-19 protocols of PSL. Shah arrived at the hotel in Lahore with a negative Covid-19 report but with a non-compliant PCT test.
PCB asked the players to come along with negative reports of the test but the test must be taken within the last 48 hours no more than that. Players were required to show the test report on 24 of May. But Naseem Shah came with a report that was older than 48 hours.
After showing an old report Naseem was isolated on a separate floor for three days but after that Independent Medical Advisory Panel of PSL 2021 advised to release him ASAP.
Babar Hamid, who is the director and commercial head of PSL 6, said: “The PCB doesn’t take any pride in releasing a young fast bowler from its marquee event but if we will ignore this breach, then we will potentially put at risk the entire event, We appreciate Quetta Gladiators for accepting this decision as it confirms we are all aligned to strictly following and implementing the protocols”.
After getting realsed from PSL, Naseem Shah tweeted that, “Cricket is my Life, I want to play cricket”
He also remembered his mother who passed away back in 2019 when Naseem was with Pakistan Cricket Team on Australia tower.
No doubt it is a great loss for both the teams as they lost their main players but we hope that this will not affect the team performances that much. The remainder of PSL 2021 will began on 5 June 2021 and the final will be held on 20 June.