Shahid Afridi, the legendary all-rounder, sparked a social media buzz withhis remarks on his son-in-law, Shaheen Afridi, taking over as Pakistan’sT20I captain from Babar Azam.
This comes after Babar Azam resigned as captain across all formats due tothe team’s poor performance in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023,where they were eliminated in the group stage with four wins and fivelosses. Critics, including former players, had urged Babar Azam to stepdown as captain and focus on improving his performances.
Babar Azam announced his resignation after a meeting with PCB Chairman ZakaAshraf. Shortly thereafter, Shan Masood was appointed Test captain, andShaheen Afridi was named the captain for the T20I side. Addressingaccusations of lobbying for Shaheen’s captaincy, Shahid Afridi clarified ona private channel that he had opposed the cricket board’s prompt decisionto appoint new captains immediately.
He mentioned expressing this view to interim Prime Minister Anwaar ul HaqKakar and PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf, advocating for Babar Azam to remainTest captain. Afridi also suggested that Mohammad Rizwan, thewicketkeeper-batsman, should have been the captain in limited-overs formats.
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Afridi attributed Shaheen Afridi’s appointment as T20I captain to PCBChairman Zaka Ashraf and Mohammad Hafeez, the current Director of PakistanMen’s Cricket Team, denying any personal involvement or lobbying despitebeing related to Shaheen Afridi.