The new men’s head coach for Welsh Fire, Mike Hussey, has called his team’s signing of the Pakistani duo of Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf a big “gamble”.
The former Australian batter made the comments while talking to foreign media.
Hussey clarified that the “gamble” was due to their availability rather than any other thing.
The Hundred will be played in August while the schedule of the Pakistan cricket team is still unclear for that month.
The Green Shirts, right now, have a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan lined up in late August before the Asia Cup and which would lead into the ODI World Cup. But PCB is likely to cancel the ODI series meaning Shaheen and Haris will be able to represent Welsh Fire much to the delight of Hussey.
“We’ve been told that they’re available up to about the 20th,” Hussey said to the foreign press.
It’s a bit of a gamble, but if that is the case, it’d be a huge win for us to have them for the whole season, which would be amazing for us”.
“They are big stars, and they’re match-winners as well. The first seven games is a fair chunk of the tournament. If they can come in and have a huge impact and win us a few games, and get us right up there, then that will help build some confidence and belief.”
Fires’ new coach will be hoping that Shaheen and Rauf can replicate the same performance the two have shown for Pakistan and Lahore Qalandars.
The duo was picked by Hussey’s team for a combined price of £160,000 which equates to a significant investment.
Welsh Fire will begin their campaign against Manchester Originals on August 2nd.
