‘I won’t let him near Pakistan team’: Shahid Afridi criticises T20 World Cup star’s fitness

However, former Pakistan cricket team captain Shahid Afridi is not happy with the fitness of one of the selected players, Azam Khan, who is the son of former Pakistan player Moin Khan.

“Fitness is the most important thing. If your fitness is good, it will show in your body language on the ground, whether it’s batting, bowling or fielding. There can be no compromise on fitness.”

“The main aim is to provide fitness to Azam Khan’s team. (Fitness-wise) I would never let Azam Khan anywhere near the team. I also praise him. He is strong, fit and bats well. He has batted well for West Indies.”

Afridi then explained why wicketkeeping in the West Indies will be difficult for Azam.

“In England, the ball goes behind the stumps. But in the West Indies, the ball doesn’t go that far, it goes low.”

“Hopefully he won’t struggle but I am concerned about whether he can keep up with this fitness against spinners in the West Indies conditions because the ball stays low and you have to stay low too.”

“As a senior, I want to support all the players as the team aims for the World Cup. Once the World Cup is over, we can discuss and criticise, but for now, I just want to support the players and I don’t want them to get any message that makes them feel like, ‘We are aiming for the World Cup, that’s what Shahid bhai is saying’,” he added.

Pakistan team: Babar Azam (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammed Abbas Afridi, Mohammed Amir, Mohammed Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan