AUS vs PAK | Twitter in splits as Afridi's premature celebration gets humbled by Shafique's shocker

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Tests are synonymous with hard work, especially for pacers, as they patiently set up the batters before the payoff finally arrives. Imagine then the horror of Shaheen Afridi on Tuesday as his celebratory overture after all the labor was rudely interrupted by Abdullah Shafique dropping a sitter.

Australia set themselves up for another expectedly dominant performance in the opening session of the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground against Pakistan as the opening partnership between David Warner and Usman Khawaja crossed the 50-run mark. However, the success did not come all too easy for the hosts as the duo had to survive a probing spell from the new ball pair of Shaheen Afridi and Hamza Mir with the former looking particularly threatening. The left-arm pacer drew a thick outside edge off Khawaja in the first over itself and had Warner done for good in his ensuing over, only to be let down by typical Pakistan fielding.

Afridi tested the retirement-bound southpaw throughout his second over, getting ever so close to extracting the outside edge on the penultimate ball before finally accomplishing the feat to cap off the six-ball set. The red cherry traveled from a squared-off Warner's willow straight into Abdullah Shafique's hands stationed at first slip with the fielder not having to move an inch to seal the deal but the 24-year-old somehow managed to make a meal out of it as it burst through his mitts and dropped on the grass. Not only did the shocking effort rob Afridi of a well-earned scalp but also led to an embarrassing moment for the Pakistan spearhead as he had already raised his hand in celebration during the follow-through, expecting the catch to be completed, before being let down.

Incidentally, Shafique had also dropped Usman Khawaja in the first session in the West Test which had eventually ended in a drubbing for the Men in Green and Twitterati was quick to draw the parallels.

Absolute shocker 

Afridi had even started celebrating!!

Horrible drop

True

Misery!

Pathetic

Yes mate!

Not so easy

Sad

Unbelievable

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