Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi is eyeing an improved performance for Pakistan at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 that is scheduled to be held in India and Sri Lanka starting February 7.
The 25-year-old is currently nursing a knee injury from which he is expected to recover in time to lead the Pakistan pace attack at the T20 World Cup.
“My rehab is ongoing, with the PCB team monitoring it,” Afridi shared.
“I’m doing gym work and working on my batting at the moment. I’ll start bowling from next week.
“It’s not as serious as it was last time. There’s a bit of swelling on the bone. The MRI report wasn’t that [concerning], this might not take a month. It’s more like a week,” he added.
The news comes in as a huge boost for Pakistan who will be eyeing T20 World Cup title, having last clinched the trophy 16 years ago in England.
The 2009 winners had a disappointing outing in the previous edition and were knocked out of the tournament in the group stage. In the 2022 edition of the tournament, Pakistan had finished runner-ups.
Afridi feels Pakistan have been focusing on improving their performance levels across all parameters as they look to put their best foot forward in the T20 World Cup next month.
“There’s always ups and downs in any sport,” Afridi said.
“But the aim is to learn from everywhere so that when you play for your country, you’ve improved. Our focus was that we see how we can improve when it comes to playing for our country, what errors can we rectify, what good things we can continue with.
“It’s not necessary that you go there and take five wickets every game or score a 50 or 100 in every game. Everyone is trying to improve,” he added.
Pakistan are currently in the midst of a three-match T20I series in Sri Lanka, which should serve as ideal preparation for the T20 World Cup.
“We’ve played a lot of good cricket over the last year,” said Afridi
“Anytime you go to a country before a tournament and play some games there, it helps the players and I hope it does in this case also,” he added.
Pakistan are placed in Group A in the T20 World Cup alongside India, Namibia, Netherlands and United States. They will face off the Netherlands in their opening assignment on February 7 in Colombo.
