Former Pakistan skipper and the star all-rounder of his time, Shahid Afridi doesn’t seem satisfied seeing Shaheen Afridi as the T20I captain of the Pakistan Cricket Team. His views seem to be quite opposite from the decision that was taken by the Pakistan Cricket Board to change captains across the different formats.
Meanwhile, former skipper Shahid Afridi spoke in favour of the star opening batter Mohammad Rizwan over Shaheen Afridi while speaking about the captaincy of the Pakistan T20I side. During a function, Afridi was in all praise of the star wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan.
“I admire Rizwan's hard work and focus level. His best quality, which I like most, is only focusing on his game and paying no heed to who doing what and what is not. He is a fighter!” said Afridi.
“I want to see him (Rizwan) as the T20 captain, but, mistakenly, Shaheen became the skipper,” he added later.
Pakistan struggling with tough times in international cricket
Speaking of the current cricketing action for the Pakistan Cricket Team, they are struggling with a miserable run in the ongoing three-match Test series against Australia. They have already lost the first Two Tests in Perth and Melbourne. Both teams will lock horns in the third and last Test of the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney on Wednesday, January 3, 2024.
Coming back to Shaheen Afridi, he is set to start this captaincy stint for Pakistan in the shortest format of the game from Friday, January 2024, with the first T20I of the five-match series against New Zealand in New Zealand. The senior selection panel of the Pakistan Cricket Board announced the Pakistan squad for the T20I series against New Zealand on December 19, 2023.
Here’s a look at Pakistan’s T20I squad for series against New Zealand:
Shaheen Afridi (C), Aamir Jamal, Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan (WK), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (WK), Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Usama Mir, and Zaman Khan.
Here’s how fans reacted to Shahid Afridi’s statement about the T20I captaincy of Pakistan:
Kesy dual standards Hain is k bhi? Jo samny ho usi ko makhan laga leta
— Mehreen chohan (@Mehreenchohan) December 30, 2023
Ander se kuch aur bahar se kuch aur
— ******Love & Pain****** (@athaf_2006) December 30, 2023
Acha ji.. tabse kyu nai bola
— BA_56 Forever (@Babar__56_) December 30, 2023
Who is he to decide who should be the captain and who should not. An opportunist indeed
— Husnain Bilal (@cric_analyst234) December 30, 2023
Boom Boom ka alag he level hai 🙌🏻😍
— MUHAMMAD BILAL 🖤 (@MBILAL_56) December 30, 2023
Rizwan Better Then Shaheen As a Captain
— Dilshad Ahmad (@ChDilshadGujjar) December 30, 2023
Afridi bhai shararton se baz ni ate. 😂
— Akbar Khan (@AkbarKhan2020) December 31, 2023
Jisko ye nahi pata k strong character huta tu Australian series skip nahi karta anyhow hamare mulk main aise influence Se hi cricket tabah hui hy.
— hamza (@MHumzanaeem90) December 31, 2023
Hame dikane ke liye bol raha hai.
— Muhammad Maghaz (@Maghaz89) December 31, 2023
Baqi sab isi ka hath hai.
Sahi drama hy Yar had hy
— Shumail_Rizavi (@rizvi_shu) December 31, 2023