LAHORE: The glitz and glamour of limited-overs cricket isn’t making Shaheen Shah Afridi shift focus from the longest and purest form of the game.

The 20-year-old paceman on Wednesday said he remains committed to Test cricket and is eyeing the upcoming tour of England to really make his mark.

“It’s my first tour of England for a Test series so I want to obviously give my best,” Shaheen said in a teleconference. “Test cricket is the supreme format of the game and you attain legendary status like that of [former Pakistan greats] Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis by doing well in that.”

In just eight Tests, Shaheen has taken 30 wickets and he’s looking for more.

“The priority for me is to play red-ball cricket,” added Shaheen, with other pacemen like Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz having opted to retire from Test cricket in order to prolong their limited-overs careers.

Shaheen was of the view that the training camp in England ahead of their scheduled three-Test series against the hosts would benefit the team.

With sport on hold in Pakistan due to the coronavirus outbreak, Pakistan have been unable to train for the tour. Instead, there are plans that the team is due to leave for England quite some time before the start of the Test series. Elite sport has been allowed to resume in England with only a few people allowed at stadiums.

“England has always presented a challenge for us but the fact that we will be holding our training camp there will be helpful for us,” he said.

“Due to virus pandemic, we haven’t been able to train over the last few months but the camp will benefit us. Also, we will have the chance to watch England play against the West Indies [in the series that precedes the Pakistan series] so we will be able to plan better.”

With chief selector cum head coach Misbah-ul-Haq naming an expanded 29-member travelling party for England due to the virus-imposed travel restrictions, Shaheen said there will be good competition among the players for not only the Test series but also the Twenty20 series after that.

“There will be a good competition for selection as everyone would want to play for the team,” he said. “In the fast bowling department we have experience pacemen like Wahab, Imran Khan and Sohail Khan and that will be an excited mix. Add to that the coaching of [bowling coach] Waqar, and we will have a formidable pace attack.”

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2020