Afridi said he understood the apprehensions of fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who feel the new rule penalised a bowler harshly if he sent down a no-ball, but felt the two bowlers would not face any problem.

"In modern cricket, Shoaib and Asif are two of the most disciplined and accurate bowlers I have seen in one-day internationals. They bowl very few no-balls. So I don't see them facing any problems," he said.

"The new rule will in fact make the other bowlers also more accurate and disciplined to avoid giving away bonus runs and that is a good thing as less wides and no balls means less time lost in a match." Shoaib and Asif have expressed reservations over the rule, effective from October 1, which says on the very next delivery after a no-ball, the batsman can take a free hit without any danger of being dismissed unless he is run-out.

The pace duo has said the new rule would only add to the pressure on the bowlers in a game whose rules are increasingly a big advantage to the batsmen.