Ex-Player of Pakistan Shahid Afridi on Babar Azam's Captaincy and Why He Never Backed Shaheen
On Wednesday After a forgettable Cricket World Cup, the Pakistan cricket team went through some big changes. The captain of Pakistan, Babar Azam, resigned from his post, and Shan Masood was made the Test captain, while the reins of the T20I team were given to Shaheen Afridi. Pakistan lost five out of their nine matches and failed to qualify for the semifinals. Babar himself did not have a great outing in the tournament, with 320 runs from nine matches.
The former Pakistan cricket team captain and also the father-in-law of Shaheen Afridi, has now opened up about the captaincy change.
Afridi said, "I was saying that there was no need to change the captain so soon. The Prime Minister asked me if we were talking about cricket and captaincy. I gave my views, saying Babar should not be changed now. I thought he should continue in Test cricket. If you wanted a white-ball captain, I thought Mohammad Rizwan should have been the ideal candidate. I have said this many times in the past as well.”
Watch the video here.
He further added that, "In terms of Shaheen becoming the T20 captain, I never wanted to get involved in any such decisions because I know people will say I am lobbying for Shaeen, considering his relationship with me. I don't want to get involved in these things. I would not have criticised the chairman if that were the case. I am saying with certainty that till today, I have never backed Shaheen for captaincy.”