Shaheen Shah Afridi: “Babar proved how good he is once again”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan T20I captain Shaheen Shah Afridi said Babar Azam “proved how good he is once again” during the recent five-match series against New Zealand.
Azam came into the T20I series in poor form as he had just played a three-match Test series against Australia and mustered 126 runs at an average of 21.
His subpar run of form had lasted longer than that, but the 29-year-old seemed to show signs of getting back to his best against the Black Caps as he amassed 213 runs, which included three fifties, at an average of 42.60 and a strike-rate of 142.
“Babar proved how good he is once again,” Afridi was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam will now captain the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), while Afridi will be in charge of the Lahore Qalandars.
PSL 9 will take place from February 17 to March 18 in four cities – Lahore, Multan, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 9: Babar Azam (captain), Rovman Powell, Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Asif Ali, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Naveen-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Salman Irshad, Arif Yaqoob, Umair Afridi, Dan Mousley, Haseebullah Khan, Mohammad Zeeshan, Mehran Mumtaz, Luke Wood, Sufiyan Muqeem, Waqar Salamkheil, Arshad Iqbal, Gus Atkinson, Shamar Joseph
Lahore Qalandars Squad for PSL 9: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Rassie van der Dussen, Haris Rauf, David Wiese, Sahibzada Farhan, Sikandar Raza, Abdullah Shafique, Zaman Khan, Mirza Tahir Baig, Mohammad Imran, Ahsan Hafeez, Dan Lawrence, Jahandad Khan, Syed Faridoun, Shai Hope, Kamran Ghulam, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Tayyab Abbas