Shahid Afridi: “I said that Babar should not be removed from the captaincy”
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Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi said he didn’t want Babar Azam to be removed as captain.
Azam stepped down as skipper in all three formats after the national team was eliminated from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
So far, Shan Masood has been appointed Test captain, while Shaheen Shah Afridi has taken over in T20Is.
However, Afridi insisted that he felt Azam should have kept hold of the leadership role despite the team’s dismal performance in the World Cup.
“I said that Babar should not be removed from the captaincy,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
In the World Cup, Azam scored 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
Pakistan began with back-to-back wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before succumbing to four straight defeats at the hands of India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite fighting back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to advance to the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign on a low as England battered them by 93 runs.
Azam recently featured in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, which they lost 3-0, and finished with 126 runs at an average of 21.
Next up for him will be Pakistan’s five-match T20I series against New Zealand, which starts on January 12 in Auckland.
Pakistan Squad for New Zealand T20I Series: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abbas Afridi, Azam Khan (wicketkeeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Usama Mir and Zaman Khan