He shuffled uncomfortably as he showed up at the check-in desk at Premier Inn. His knee still gave him trouble, and he needed it to be looked at by a specialist. His father-in-law had helped set up a consultation with a doctor in London. None of it would be cheap, but for now, the 22-year-old man was paying for everything himself. He was far away from home, and it all felt very lonely. He wasn't a man used to solitude of this kind; he had grown up as the youngest of seven brothers in Pakistan. He had always had people around him. But, as one of the best fast bowlers in the world unpacked in his modest hotel room, he only had his thoughts, fears, and doubts for company.
Shaheen Shah Afridi is one of the most recognisable men in Pakistan, but after a freak ligament injury in Galle in July 2022, the way his employers, the PCB, handled his rehabilitation bordered on the farcical. After being ruled out of the second Test against Sri Lanka, the PCB announced that he would travel to Rotterdam with the national side while he recuperated, receiving rehab while he travelled, presumably because getting in and out of aeroplanes and buses was the best way to treat the injury. They hoped he would shake off the injury in time for the Asia Cup, that was around the corner.
But this was a potentially career-threatening injury, not a Taylor Swift song, so, unfortunately, the Asia Cup didn't happen. We only found out the seriousness of the injury thanks to a PCB social-media clip where Shaheen, warmly greeting Virat Kohli, told him what the issue was. By now, criticism of how the injury was being handled was mounting, and this novel medical practice of travel recuperation was quickly shelved.
After Shahid Afridi went public about the lack of assistance Shaheen was receiving in the UK, the PCB responded: "It goes without saying that the PCB has always been and will continue to be responsible for arranging medical care and rehabilitation of all its players requiring any treatment," even though most things which go without saying don't need to be said via press releases.
But Shaheen - young, fit and driven - was receiving professional medical care, and Pakistan's goal of getting him fit for the T20 World Cup was realised. It was a mark of his resilience that he was back to his best almost immediately upon his return, though he did warn after the game against Netherlands that full recovery would take time. But Pakistan were in the semi-finals, where Shaheen delivered another match-winning performance to become Pakistan's top wicket-taker in the tournament. With this tournament the priority, the PCB appeared to have completely got away with mishandling the whole thing.
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Pakistan have posted a below-par total and, not for the first time, left the bowlers to carry them home. Shaheen is chief among them, of course, and when he cleans up Alex Hales in the first over, this is him at his white-hot best. As England stumble in the chase and the last five overs approach, Pakistan know they have Shaheen to bowl two of them. Perhaps he'll finally put Ben Stokes, limping along at 28 off 35, out of his misery.
But Shaheen's suddenly limping, in a very literal way. He landed awkwardly taking a diving catch to remove Harry Brook a few overs earlier. It's eerily similar to the injury that began it all in Galle, and after bowling one more delivery, he hobbles off in tears. Perhaps this injury would have occurred regardless of how his rehab was managed, but Pakistan's luck with their cavalier approach to treating their biggest star has finally run out when it matters most.
Only Pakistan know how they conjured up a combination of medical management so poor that Iftikhar Ahmed is bowling a death over to a well-set Stokes, and yet the talent such that's it's actually happening in a World Cup final. It's often said that Pakistan's chaos in World Cup tournaments offers the most exhilarating outlet for their raw ability to shine through. This time, talent has returned the favour, offering up the biggest platform in cricket for the chaos to take centre stage.
It goes as well as you'd expect. Shaheen's loss is the turning point. Pakistan lose the final, and then lose Shaheen for the entire winter red-ball season. In his absence, Pakistan fail to take 20 wickets in any of the five Test matches they play as Stokes' England inflict a first-ever 3-0 home whitewash upon them, before they cling on to two draws against New Zealand.
His time with the Pakistan side has been miserable, so Shaheen turns his attention to other things. His relationship with the PSL franchise he leads, Lahore Qalandars, is less complicated, one of near god-like adulation. He led his side to the title the previous year, and for all the things he has lost of late, this is one he doesn't want to give up. It shows throughout the tournament and hits a crescendo in the final, where he is the top wicket-taker.
Batting isn't as hard on the knee so he's had time to hone a fast-improving craft. He plays a match-winning innings, too, an unbeaten 44 off 15 balls, leading Lahore to 200. They will need every one of those runs as they scrape home by one. Shaheen may be the prince of Pakistani fast bowling, but as he lifts that title once more, it is here in Lahore that he truly feels like royalty. And in a year of tremendous highs and lows, there's much to look forward to beyond cricket, too. In a year where several high-profile members of the Pakistan side tie the knot, he gets married to Shahid Afridi's daughter in the cricketing wedding of the year.
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There's so much Shaheen has done this year - feats that others might count as career highlights end up as annual footnotes. Ahead of Pakistan's two-Test tour of Sri Lanka, he is casually breaking records in the T20 Blast in England, becoming the first bowler to take four wickets in the first over.
But Galle looms once more, like that suppressed trauma that must finally be confronted. It's almost as if this unusual series, mirroring Pakistan's two Tests at this venue last year, have been set up to provide closure to a dark chapter in Shaheen's career. He hasn't played a Test since that stumble in Galle, and in a year that's taught him patience above all else, it's perhaps appropriate he's been left stranded on 99 Test wickets.
In the year he's waited for that one more wicket, Pakistan have waited for a Test win. It's fitting, perhaps, that in the time when a little bit more administrative care might have saved Shaheen from a world of hurt, the cricket board has seen three different chairmen come and go.
It's a repaired knee and a changed man, but it's the same old bowler at the same venue that sunk him to his deepest low. But if anyone can truly shake it off, it's Shaheen Shah Afridi, this week, in Galle.