Shaheen Shah Afridi has reasserted his commitment to red-ball cricket, calling it his “first priority” as he gears up to play the President’s Trophy, set to begin on Saturday. Afridi, who has fallen down the pecking order in Test cricket for Pakistan amidst perceptions of a lack of interest in the format, will play his first first-class match in Pakistan in seven years.

“When I first played a first-class match in 2017 for KRL, that was quite a good debut,” Afridi, who took 8 for 39 as a 17-year-old in that game, said. “Red-ball cricket is always my first priority. I’ve always loved it. I didn’t get enough time to play because of international cricket, but I haven’t been playing much cricket the last couple of months. So it’s an opportunity to play red-ball cricket.”

Afridi, who was not selected for Pakistan’s tours to the West Indies and England, said he wants to regain his place in Pakistan’s Test squad. Pakistan’s bowling has notably lacked pace over the last two series, with the team preferring medium-fast bowlers over the perceived higher ceiling of Afridi. However, Afridi’s explosive pace and electric start to Test cricket were both on the wane when he lost his spot in the Test side. His last 27 wickets have come at an average of over 40, after his treatment for a knee injury in 2022 was famously bungled by the PCB, demonstrating the speed of that decline.

It is a slide he is keen to reverse, especially with the one-dimensional nature of Pakistan’s bowlers thrown in sharp relief by the pace and dynamism of England. “I learned a lot from my elder brother Riaz Afridi, because he’s played a lot of first-class cricket. In the longer format, the longer you spend time on the ground [the better it is] for your confidence, and your line and length gets fine-tuned.

“I’ll try to bowl the same way in first-class cricket the way I’ve bowled in Test cricket,” he said. “I’ve not played red-ball cricket the last few months. Before that, I’d been playing red-ball cricket continuously. If you play international cricket, then coming back to domestic cricket can be challenging. Because you’ve been playing international cricket constantly in all three formats, it keeps you busy. When you’re free, you should play domestic cricket.”

Afridi has had success on Pakistan’s domestic circuit recently, finishing as the top wicket-taker in the recently concluded Champions Cup, a one-day tournament where he led his team, Pakistan Gold, to silverware. He took 7 for 36 in the final, and remains captain of Pakistan’s ODI team, which he will lead in an upcoming home tri-series against England and Sri Lanka. It is followed by two home Test series, against Sri Lanka and New Zealand later in the season.