NEW DELHI: Pakistan star pacer Shaheen Afridi on Sunday copped a nasty blow on his left thumb as teammate Babar Azam came to the rescue, fixing it by pulling the thumb during the series-deciding third and final ODI against Australia in Perth.
Shaheen took the blow to his bowling hand when he was trying to claim the ball which was thrown from the deep fence.
The incident took place in the 26th over of the innings when Sean Abbott hit a Shaheen ball to deep mid-wicket. As the fielder fired in a hard, flat throw on the bounce, Shaheen at the non-striker’s end, tried to stop the ball but it grazed his left thumb.
Soon after getting hit, Shaheen was seen in visible pain as he flicked his hand. Babar then stepped in and was seen pulling the bowler’s thumb to ease the pain.
The commentators feared dislocation but Babar kept the pressure on Shaheen’s thumb till the physio arrived. The physio then ruled out dislocation and used the magic spray to help Shaheen. After receiving the treatment, Shaheen, although in discomfort, resumed bowling much to the delight of the Pakistan fans.
In the contest, pacers ran through the Australian batting line-up as the hosts were restricted to a lowly 140 after Pakistan opted to bowl.
While Shaheen and Naseem Shah clamed three wickets each, Haris Rauf bagged a couple. Mohammad Hasnain also had a wicket to his name for the visitors.
Sean Abbott was to top scorer for Australia while Cooper Connolly got out retired.
Earleier, Australia won the series opener by 2 wickets but Pakistan then thrashed the hosts by 9 wickets in Adelaide to take series in to the decider.
