Rashid Latif: “No matter how much friendship there is, Babar has taken revenge [against Shaheen]”
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Former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Rashid Latif believes Babar Azam “has taken revenge” against Shaheen Shah Afridi after being reappointed as limited overs captain.
Azam had stepped down from the leadership role in all three formats after the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup and Afridi replaced him as T20I skipper in November 2023.
However, the left-arm seamer’s tenure only lasted one series, which consisted of five T20Is against New Zealand.
After the men in green lost that series 4-1, rumours started to surface about a potential change in leadership, with Azam and Mohammad Rizwan’s names being floated around.
Ultimately, Azam returned as Pakistan’s white-ball captain shortly after the conclusion of the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Latif noted that when Afridi’s biggest mistake was not acknowledging the importance of Azam when he took over as T20I skipper in 2023.
“Shadab Khan made a smart statement when he lost the series against Afghanistan. He stood up and said, ‘Without Babar and Rizwan, this team isn’t complete.’ That means I’m not the captain. The same I was expecting from Shaheen when Babar was removed. If Shaheen had taken that step that day, he wouldn’t be seeing all this today. No matter how much friendship there is, Babar has taken revenge [against Shaheen],” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Afridi recently captained the Lahore Qalandars in PSL 9 and took 14 wickets in nine matches at an average of 22.14 and an economy rate of 8.61.
As for Azam, he led the Peshawar Zalmi and finished as the highest run-scorer in the tournament with 569 runs in 11 games, which included a century and five fifties, at an average of 56.90 and a strike-rate of 142.60.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a five-match T20I series against New Zealand, which will be played in Rawalpindi and Lahore from April 18 to 27.
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
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