Ramiz Raja: “The removal of Shaheen Afridi from captaincy is quite unfortunate. I’ve faced a similar situation and I totally empathise with him. Babar Azam and [the] PCB need to clarify matters with Shaheen”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja has admitted that the predicament left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi finds himself in “is quite unfortunate.”
Afridi was recently removed as Pakistan’s T20I captain, with Babar Azam returning to become limited overs skipper.
The 24-year-old only led the team once – in a five-match T20I series against New Zealand in January 2024 that the men in green lost 4-1.
Ramiz said he empathises with Afridi and called on Azam and the PCB to “clarify matters” with him in order to ensure there are no hard feelings.
“The removal of Shaheen Afridi from captaincy is quite unfortunate. I’ve faced a similar situation and I totally empathise with him. Babar Azam and [the] PCB need to clarify matters with Shaheen,” he was quoted as saying by PakPassion on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Afridi recently captained the Lahore 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.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a five-match T20I series against New Zealand, which will take place 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
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