Pakistan's premier quick Shaheen Shah Afridi blanked out, leading to a hilarious moment after he briefly forgot Bangladesh's famous cricketing nickname, the Tigers, ahead of the Super Fours fixture between the two sides on Thursday in Dubai.
On the eve of the final Super Fours fixture for both sides, a reporter quizzed Shaheen about the possibility of Pakistan persisting with the same XI against the ‘Tigers’. Puzzled, the left-arm speedster asked, ‘Tiger kaun?’ (Who's Tiger?).
Someone in the room clarified that Tigers refer to ‘Bangladesh’, Shaheen quickly smiled and replied, ‘Ohh, Bangladesh, sorry’. He then laughed and responded to the query related to the final XI and said, ‘Mai head coach se puch lunga, sorry mujhe nahi pata.’ (I'll ask the head coach, sorry I don't know).
Bangladesh boast a dreadful record against Pakistan in T20Is, winning five and losing 20 out of their 25 meetings. Yet, Bangladesh would back itself considering the 2-1 series victory they orchestrated against the Men in Green on home turf back in July.
With past results in mind, Shaheen outlined the threat posed by Bangladesh, which stems from their current form. Shaheen believes that if Pakistan is to outdo Bangladesh, the entire team will need to outfox them in all facets of the game.
‘Bangladesh is a good team and has been playing quite well recently. Obviously, whenever we play matches against such teams, we need to deliver the first punch ourselves and not give them any opportunity,’ he said.
‘Yes, we have to play good cricket at all three stages, and after that, there's the next game. Our focus is on the Bangladesh game and how to approach it,’ he added.