Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has denied reports floating on social media about him pushing for his son-in-law and ace pacer Shaheen Afridi for national team captaincy ahead of the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023.
Recently, Pakistan were humiliated in the Asia Cup 2023 as they failed to reach the final of the tournament. Moreso, they were defeated by a record 228 runs by India in a Super 4s match where the Men in Blue put up 356/2 batting first after losing the toss with KL Rahul and Virat Kohli scoring unbeaten centuries.
In response, Pakistan was bundled out for 128 runs. Then against Sri Lanka in a must-win match, Pakistan couldn’t defend 250-odd runs and lost by 2 wickets.
After the match, reports of an alleged feud between Shaheen Shah Afridi and Babar Azam began doing rounds on social media. As per the reports, Babar was criticizing the players for not performing and not doing their best.
But Shaheen pipped and said that he should atleast praise those players who did well, which led to an argument, which was subdued by Mohammad Rizwan.
Shahid Afridi, who is the father-in-law of Shaheen, has advised Babar to seek the help of the team director and coach to improve his captaincy.
Shahid Afridi Rejects Reports Of Him Pushing For Shaheen Afridi As Pakistan Captain
Shahid Afridi reportedly pushed for Shaheen Afridi to succeed Babar Azam as captain amid rumors of turmoil in the Pakistani team’s locker room. The ex-cricketer, though, has refuted the allegations.
During a recent interview with a local media news channel, Shahid Afridi vented his anger at the reports and said:
“I was scrolling through my Twitter, and I saw that now they’re running something with my name that Shahid Afridi stated, in my opinion, Shaheen Afridi can lead the team better than Babar Azam, Lahore Qalandars won a PSL trophy under his captaincy.
“I don’t understand why they are saying such things, even though I express my views on Samaa. I share my perspective on Samaa, but they interpret it in their own way. Although I am the only person who keeps Shaheen away from the captaincy,” he said.
Amidst this all, reports are suggesting that Shaheen Afridi will in fact replace Shadab Khan as the vice-captain of the Pakistan team in white-ball format.
