Pakistani pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi has revealed his game plan with the new ball as Pakistan prepare to take on India at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday in Kendy, Sri Lanka.
The arch-rivals will meet in the 50-over format for the first time since the World Cup 2019 where the Blues emerged victorious.
Afridi, 23, is considered one of the best bowlers in the world and arguably the most dangerous with the new ball as he has been consistently ripping the stumps for the last two to three years.
The pacer's last two encounters with India were in T20 World Cups 2022 and 2023.
Talking to the official broadcasters of the Asia Cup, Shaheen talked about his game plan with the new ball.
"I think all the openers are aware of my game plan," Afridi said with a smile. "It is always my priority to give my team an early breakthrough because when you remove the opener, the pressure on the remaining batters grows.
"Because mostly middle-order batters do not play with the new ball as much as the top-order, so [when you take an early wicket(s)] there is too much pressure of playing with the new ball."
Earlier in Pakistan's Asia Cup opener against Nepal, the 23-year-old continued his affair with the new ball and sent two Nepali batters back to the pavilion.
Afridi vs Rohit Sharma will be the one to watch as the latter has a history of struggling against left-arm pacers, especially against Pakistan.
The two had a face-off in the T20 World Cup 2021 group stage match, where Shaheen got him on the first ball of the match with an in-swinging beauty at full length.
Their most recent encounter was in the T20 World 2022 group stage match where Sharma continued his struggle against Afridi, and only scored four runs on five balls.
It must be noted that Pakistan is in red-hot form, having defeated Nepal by a big margin in their Asia Cup opener and becoming the number-one ODI team in the world by whitewashing Afghanistan 3-0 in an ODI series just before the Asian event.
On the other hand, this will be India's first match in the tournament and some of their players will be playing their first-ever match against Pakistan.
