Azhar Ali: “I think Shaheen Afridi’s captaincy and Lahore’s bowling has been exposed”
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Former Pakistan batsman Azhar Ali believes left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi “has been exposed” for his poor captaincy skills while leading the Lahore Qalandars in the ongoing 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Afridi, who is Pakistan’s T20I captain, has failed to lead the Qalandars into the playoffs as they have only won one out of the 10 matches they have played.
For the Qalandars, this comes as a big blow, especially considering they won the PSL in 2022 and 2023.
In Azhar’s eyes, the team’s campaign in PSL 9 has showcased the weaknesses in Afridi’s leadership style.
On top of that, he acknowledged that the Qalandars sorely missed Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan, who pulled out of the tournament in order to recover from lower back surgery.
“I think Shaheen Afridi’s captaincy and Lahore’s bowling has been exposed. The absence of Rashid Khan is clearly hurting Lahore since they no longer have the comfort he provided to the other bowlers in the middle overs,” Azhar was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
In PSL 9, Afridi has taken 14 wickets in nine matches at an average of 22.14 and an economy rate of 8.61.
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