Shahid Afridi: “I wanted myself to be proven wrong. I wanted Babar to become a better captain with time, but that didn’t happen”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi said he wanted Babar Azam to prove him wrong by being an excellent captain, but the star batsman failed to do so.
Azam stepped down as captain after the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he scored 320 runs in nine matches, which included four half-centuries, at an average of 40.
Even though the 29-year-old was made captain in 2019, Afridi conceded that he didn’t see a lot of improvement over the four years.
“I wanted myself to be proven wrong. I wanted Babar to become a better captain with time, but that didn’t happen,” he was quoted as saying by Geo Super.
Pakistan won their first two World Cup matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing four in a row to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they fought back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they were unable to progress to the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign on a low as England thrashed them by 93 runs.
Azam will now represent Pakistan in their three-match Test series against Australia, which begins on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series:Â Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi
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