Mohammad Rizwan: “He (Shaheen Afridi) is a very good captain and I have seen him in Lahore Qalandars and other teams where I was his teammate and he is that kind of a player who neither loses his heart nor courage till the end of a game”
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Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan believes left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi is a “very good captain” as he has a lot of heart and courage.
Afridi replaced Babar Azam as T20I captain after the latter stepped down from the leadership role in all three formats following Pakistan’s poor performance in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
It is likely that the 23-year-old was put in charge of Pakistan’s T20I team due to his success with the Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) as he led the franchise to back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.
“He (Shaheen Afridi) is a very good captain and I have seen him in Lahore Qalandars and other teams where I was his teammate and he is that kind of a player who neither loses his heart nor courage till the end of a game,” Rizwan told Cricbuzz.
Afridi recently made his debut as T20I captain in Pakistan’s five-match series against New Zealand and picked up nine wickets at an average of 19.22 and an economy rate of 8.94.
He is now leading the Qalandars in the 2024 PSL, while Rizwan is captaining the Multan Sultans.
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
Multan Sultans Squad for PSL 9: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Iftikhar Ahmed, David Willey, Khushdil Shah, Usama Mir, Dawid Malan, Abbas Afridi, Reeza Hendricks, Tayyab Tahir, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Khan, Mohammad Ali, Faisal Akram, Yasir Khan, Chris Jordan, Aftab Ibrahim, Johnson Charles, Mohammad Shehzad