Aaqib Javed: “Shaheen was announced as Pakistan captain after his performance for two years as skipper in PSL. We need to get out of this mindset of judging someone after four or five matches”
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Lahore Qalandars head coach Aaqib Javed has slammed Pakistan T20I captain Shaheen Shah Afridi’s critics, saying they need to “get out of this mindset of judging someone after four or five matches.”
Afridi succeeded Babar Azam as T20I skipper and has only led in one series so far – a five-match affair against New Zealand that the men in green lost 4-1.
With the 2024 T20 World Cup scheduled to take place in June, speculation is already rife that the 23-year-old may be replaced as captain.
However, Aaqib came to Afridi’s defence and believes he should be given a longer run to show whether his leadership skills are good enough.
“Shaheen was announced as Pakistan captain after his performance for two years as skipper in PSL. We need to get out of this mindset of judging someone after four or five matches,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Afridi recently captained the Qalandars in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and took 14 wickets in nine matches at an average of 22.14 and an economy rate of 8.61.
The Qalandars came into PSL 9 as the defending champions, but failed to retain their title as they only managed to win one out of the 10 games they played.
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
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