Shahid Afridi: “Replacing Babar as captain is not the solution”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former interim chief selector Shahid Afridi believes that replacing Babar Azam as captain will not be the solution to Pakistan’s problems.
There has been mounting pressure on Azam, especially after the national team’s disappointing home season.
Under the 28-year-old’s leadership, Pakistan were whitewashed 3-0 in their Test series against England. Following this, both their Tests against New Zealand ended as a draw, while the Black Caps won the ODI series 2-1.
While Azam batted well against both England and New Zealand, rumours have surged about the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) being keen on adopting a split captaincy model.
However, Afridi doesn’t think this is to answer to the team’s woes.
“Replacing Babar as captain is not the solution,” he was quoted as saying by Cricwick.
Azam’s current assignment is the Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he is captaining the Peshawar Zalmi after being traded to them from the Karachi Kings in return for big-hitting batsmen Haider Ali and Shoaib Malik.
Ironically, the Zalmi started their PSL 8 campaign against the Kings on Tuesday in Karachi.
They ended up winning the match by two runs, with Azam playing an instrumental role as he smashed 68 runs off 46 balls, which included seven boundaries and a six.
Next up for the Zalmi will be the Multan Sultans, who they face on February 17.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 8: Babar Azam, Rovman Powell, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (Sri Lanka), Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz, Arshad Iqbal, Danish Aziz, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Saim Ayub, Salman Irshad, Usman Qadir, Haseebullah Khan, Sufyan Muqeem, James Neesham, Khurram Shahzad, Haris Sohail and Richard Gleeson