It wasn't surprising that Pakistan's most complete bowling performance of the tournament came on the day when Afridi struck early ©AFP
"I've got 16 wickets, still no rhythm you think?" smirked Shaheen Afridi, currently the leading wicket-taker in ICC World Cup 2023 to a question about bowling rhythm. It was an answer laced with the attitude of a proud fast bowler, a list Afridi would find a high spot in.
It is one amongst the many questions that have tailed Pakistan all along in the tournament. An attack without the presence of Naseem Shah was deemed to have lost a lot of teeth, including Afridi himself. It wasn't that he was lacking wickets, for even when he has been worse for against quality batting, Afridi has managed to sneak in wickets at some stage. Against India, he curtailed a rampaging Rohit Sharma, and against Australia he did enough at the death to leave his team with a chance, albeit a small one.
Nevertheless, sneaking in wickets is not what Afridi and Co. had made their name out of. It was about setting the tone. So it did not come as much surprise that, Pakistan's
