Former Indian cricketer Ravi Shastri has said that Pakistan’s pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi needed support to control the pressure of being the leader of the side’s pace attack.

“The problem for Shaheen is the pressure of being the spearhead of the Pakistan attack & without much support at the other end when it comes to pace,” he said as Pakistan faced Australia on their home ground.

The Shan Masood-led side struggled to stop the Aussies from putting a big total on the scoreboard. The visitors were seen lacking pace and were sloppy in the fielding.

Although Pakistan is known for their pace battery, they are not known as one of the best fielding sides in world cricket. Experts have always pointed out the side’s failure in this department while saying that “catches win you matches”.

Australia put in a huge total of 487 runs in the first innings of the Perth Test, with Pakistan missing chances to get wickets. Pakistan played three fast bowlers, with two inexperienced pacers.

“You don’t have one bowler who is even close to 140kph so that puts immense pressure on someone like Shaheen,” Shastri said.