Shahid Afridi: “I would say that this is Mohammad Hafeez’s decision along with the chairman”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi believes team director Mohammad Hafeez and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi made the decision to remove Babar Azam as captain.
It was reported that Azam was offered the choice to continue leading Pakistan in Tests, but he refused and gave up the captaincy entirely.
Azam’s tenure as skipper came to an end after the men in green performed dismally in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Afridi noted that he wanted the 29-year-old to stay on as Test captain and let wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan take over in limited overs cricket.
“I talked to the PCB chairman also. I told [him] that Babar Azam should continue as the red ball captain. I told him that one-day and T20I captaincy could be given to Mohammad Rizwan. He was captaining Multan Sultans also. He knows how to take the team forward. I would say that this is Mohammad Hafeez’s decision along with the chairman,” he said on Samaa TV as quoted by NDTV.
In the World Cup, Azam scored 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
Pakistan began by beating the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before faltering against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite bouncing back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they could not make it to the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign on a sour note as England crushed them by 93 runs.
Azam’s next assignment will be Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, which starts on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: 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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