Shaheen Afridi (Twitter)
The tremendous highs of 2021 paved the way to disappointing lows of 2022 for Pakistan spearhead Shaheen Afridi, who stood on the verge of quitting the beloved game as he reached a boiling point of frustration with a knee injury rehab.
The young left-arm pacer, who was awarded the ICC Cricketer Of The Year 2021, missed the playing action for the majority of the second half in the following year after hurting his ankle during the Test tour of Sri Lanka in July.
Shaheen was rushed from rehab to play the T20 World Cup in Australia later that year but a painful recurrence of the injury during the tournament final at MCG against England once again sidelined him for the next six months.
The cricketer made a comeback via the 2023 edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) where, before turning up for his franchise Lahore Qalandards, the Pakistani seamer revealed he had considered retiring from the game prematurely during the frustrating months out of the field.
When Shaheen Nearly Quit Cricket
Speaking on Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) YouTube channel, the fiery left-arm quick revealed pondering his fate during the long rehabilitation phase and said there were times he gave up and almost decided to announce his retirement from all forms of competitive cricket.
Shaheen was left in a brace on his leg in the early phase of the recovery and he missed all of Pakistan's assignments leading into the T20 World Cup. It was a miracle that the bowler managed to play the competition in Australia, which, however, was also shortlived as he was forced to enter another lengthy period away.
"There were times when I wanted to give up. I was working on only one muscle and it was not improving. Often during the rehabilitation sessions, I used to say to myself ‘this is enough, I cannot do this anymore," Shaheen said.
The bowler revealed his biggest source of motivation was the Pakistan jersey and his previous performances, which he used to watch regularly on YouTube whenever feeling down.
"But then I used to watch my bowling on YouTube and see how well I had done and that motivated me and I told myself ‘to push a little more’ … It is frustrating for a fast bowler to miss cricket because of an injury," he added.
 "Kashish Chadha")
