Arjit Kumar - Monday, Dec 15, 2025Shaheen Afridi BBL debut: Pakistani fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi's much-anticipated Big Bash League (BBL) debut was quite disappointing. In the match between Melbourne Renegades and Brisbane Heat in Geelong, Shaheen was stopped from completing his over mid-match due to his 'dangerous' and uncontrolled bowling.
The incident occurred when Brisbane Heat invited Melbourne Renegades to bat first. In the 18th over of the Renegades' innings, Shaheen bowled two consecutive full tosses at waist height.
According to cricket rules, no bowler is allowed to bowl two waist-height (or higher) full toss no-balls during an innings. As a result, the umpires immediately removed Shaheen Shah Afridi from bowling.
When Shaheen was told he could no longer bowl, he gave a sarcastic smile, which caught the attention of everyone on the field. Heat captain Nathan McSweeney had to bowl the last two balls of the over himself.
Faced with this ordeal in his very first BBL match, Shaheen Afridi's final bowling analysis was abysmal:
This figure is a major blow for a bowler of his caliber, who made his debut for the Renegades amid much fanfare alongside Pakistan teammate Mohammad Rizwan.
Afridi started the match well with three dot balls in the second over, but After that, his balls started to stray off length. He wasn't called back to bowl until the 13th over, when the Renegades began to bat aggressively.
The Melbourne Renegades posted a mammoth total in this match, reaching 212 for 5. Tim Seifert scored a brilliant century of 102 runs off 56 balls, while Ollie Peake contributed 57 runs off 29 balls. Meanwhile, Pakistan's second-string batsman Mohammad Rizwan, batting at number 3, made just 4 runs off 10 balls before falling to left-arm spinner Paddy Dooley.
It has been a bitter start to Shaheen Afridi's BBL debut, highlighting the immense pressure of performing in one of the world's biggest T20 leagues.
