Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has criticised Babar Azam’s poor performance as captain and implied that the Pakistan Cricket Board is favouring him. Babar has come under intense scrutiny following Pakistan’s early exit from the T20 World Cup after losing to the USA and India in the group stage and failing to qualify for the Super 8 stage. PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has also hinted at major changes to the system, calling it a “major surgery”.
Early last year, Babar stepped down as captain following the team’s poor performance in the ODI World Cup and Shaheen Afridi took over as T20I captain. However, the left-arm paceman did not last long and was dismissed after just one series. However, Naqvi reinstated Babar as Pakistan’s white-ball captain in place of Shaheen Shah Afridi ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Shahid Afridi, who is currently in England to take part in the World Championship of Legends 2024, said no other Pakistan captain has received a longer rope than Babar, who has led Pakistan in multiple World Cups and Asia Cups but has never won an ICC trophy.
“A decision should be taken – captaincy or coach – and time should be given. With Babar, we have had captaincy many times but the captain has never got so many opportunities. After a World Cup, the captain was often the first to get blamed. Two or three World Cups, two or three Asia Cups, he had enough opportunities,” Afridi said in a video that went viral on social media.
Meanwhile, the PCB has dropped former Test players Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq from the selection committee following the team’s disastrous defeat in the T20 World Cup last month.
Wahab and Razzaq were part of the chairmanless committee, which consisted of national team captains, head coaches and data analysts.
Afridi accused the PCB of only firing Riaz and Razzaq as part of the reforms that Naqvi had previously spoken about.
“I learnt that only Abdul Razzaq and Wahab Riaz have been removed from the selection committee. I cannot understand this move. If the selection committee has six-seven members, why have only these two been removed?” Afridi added.
