Shahid Afridi: “I want to see him (Rizwan) as the T20 captain but mistakenly, Shaheen became the skipper”
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Legendary big-hitter Shahid Afridi said left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi “mistakenly” became Pakistan’s T20I captain.
Shahid admitted he would have preferred wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan to replace Babar Azam as skipper when the latter stepped down from the leadership role in all three formats following Pakistan’s poor performance in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
However, Shaheen was given the reins, likely due to his success in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he captained the Lahore Qalandars to successive titles in 2022 and 2023.
It should be noted that Shaheen is Shahid’s son-in-law and recently made his debut as T20I skipper in the five-match series against New Zealand, which the men in green lost 4-1.
“I want to see him (Rizwan) as the T20 captain but mistakenly, Shaheen became the skipper,” Shahid was quoted as saying by Geo Super.
Prior to their T20I series against New Zealand, Pakistan played a three-match Test series against Australia, which they lost 3-0.
Shaheen will now captain the Qalandars in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), while Rizwan will lead the Multan Sultans.
PSL 9 will take place from February 17 to March 18 in four cities – Lahore, Multan, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Lahore Qalandars Squad for PSL 9: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Haris Rauf, David Wiese, Sikandar Raza, Abdullah Shafique, Zaman Khan, Mirza Tahir Baig, Rashid Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Ahsan Bhatti, Dan Lawrence, Jahandad Khan, Syed Faridoun Mahmood, Shai Hope, Kamran Ghulam, Rassie van der Dussen
Multan Sultans Squad for PSL 9: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Usama Mir, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah, Faisal Akram, Dawid Malan, Reeza Hendricks, Reece Topley, Tayyab Tahir, Shahnawaz Dahani, Mohammad Ali, Usman Khan, Yasir Khan, Chris Jordan, Aftab Ibrahim, David Willey
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