'Big man Big game' - Twitter praises Shaheen Afridi as he crushes Bangladesh with his four wicket spell

Shaheen Afridi (Source: Twitter)

Pakistan and South Africa went head-to-head against each other in Match 41^st of the 20-20 World Cup 2022. The game held tremendous importance for both sides as the winner of the match would’ve sealed a spot in the semi-finals. Bangladesh Captain Shakib-al-Hasan won the toss and elected to bat first. The openers Najmul Hossain Shanto and Litton Das walked out to give a blazing start to their side.

However, Shaheen Afridi had other plans as he was determined to take his team into the semi-finals. He drew the first blood removing the dangerous Litton Das for just 10 off 8 balls. After losing Das early, Shanto built a 52-run partnership along with Soumya Sarkar to take his team into a strong position at 73/1 after 10.3 overs. Just when things were looking good for Bangladesh, Pakistan made a strong comeback into the match courtesy of back-to-back wickets by Shadab Khan.

Afridi further broke the back of the Bangladesh batting lineup in his second spell as he cleaned up Mosaddek Hossain with a beautiful slower ball. The left-arm seamer further added another wicket to his tally as he dismissed Nurul Hasan. Bangladesh completely lost their way after a good start as they went from 107/4 to 109/7.

Afridi was all over the Bangladesh tail after he got rid of Taskin Ahmed picking his fourth wicket of the innings. He finished his spell with figures of 4/22 in four overs.  Bangladesh only managed to score 127/8 in their allotted 20 overs.

Shaheen had been under fire after he failed to pick a single wicket in the first two matches of the tournament against India and Zimbabwe. He finally got his first wicket in Pakistan’s third match against the Netherlands. He was further seen returning to his best against South Africa where he finished with figures of 3/14 in four overs.

Seeing Afridi’s lacklustre performances in the first two matches, there were talks that the seamer is not at his 100 per cent and has been rushed. Afridi answered his critics in some style with his back-to-back spells. Here’s how

This is how Twitter reacted to Afridi’s sensational comeback:

Apart from few Indian bowlers, if i have liked bowling of any bowler, it is 'Shaheen Shah Afridi'. He is back in form and now I'm eagerly waiting for #INDvsPAK Super Final@iShaheenAfridi 🦅#CreditWhereItsDue pic.twitter.com/68LR9wMazG

— Ashutosh Gaur (@ashu96gaur) November 6, 2022

Shaheen Shah Afridi 🔥👏💚 you deserve all the appreciation . u r stupendous @iShaheenAfridi . captain Babar Azam @babarazam258 also deserves appreciation fr backing you in such positive manner despite everyone else was critical of u r selection in this tournament .@TheRealPCB

— Hera Mansha (@hmansha123) November 6, 2022

Shaheen Afridi helps Pakistan limit Bangladesh to 128/8 in do-or-die clash#PAKvsBAN pic.twitter.com/MK0Mdx0o7R

— Shuaib Khan (@ShuaibKhan__) November 6, 2022

Big man Big Game.@iShaheenAfridi#PAKvsBAN pic.twitter.com/34Cjl8pb9w

— Yasir Awan (@yasirawan54) November 6, 2022

#Shanto done his part well but @iShaheenAfridi and #Pakistan bowlers didn't let #Bangladesh to go more than 127-8(20) 🏏. Excellent bowling performance by @iShaheenAfridi with 4-0-22-4 🔥

Who will join with #India for semi finals ? 👀 #crickettwitter #Cricket #T20WorldCup

— Hasith Pasanga (@imHasith) November 6, 2022

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. After a slow start at the #ICCT20WorldCup Shaheen Afridi picked up 4 crucial wickets against Bangladesh 🇧🇩 with an impressive economy rate, as Pakistan 🇵🇰 restricted their opponents to 127 runs.#ACC @TheRealPCB pic.twitter.com/XYQbVlmEOu

— AsianCricketCouncil (@ACCMedia1) November 6, 2022

@iShaheenAfridi 🔥♥️ pic.twitter.com/UCjHflLVfx

— بلال شیخ ♥️ (@baliboxer24) November 6, 2022