Pakistan pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi: “I never think about captaincy. My prime focus is to represent my country and never bring negativity into the team”
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Pakistan left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi said he never thinks about the captaincy as his “prime focus is to represent my country”.
Afridi was previously named Pakistan’s T20I captain, but only held the role for one series, which consisted of five T20Is against New Zealand in January 2024.
The 24-year-old was handed the leadership role in November 2023, after Babar Azam stepped down in all three formats. However, by March 2024, Azam was back in charge in limited overs cricket.
While there has been a lot of speculation that Afridi was furious with the way his stint as captain ended so abruptly, he has made it clear that he is no longer thinking about leading the men in green.
“I never think about captaincy. My prime focus is to represent my country and never bring negativity into the team,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Afridi recently represented Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup and took five wickets in four matches at an average of 21 and an economy rate of 6.56.
Next up for the men in green will be a two-Test series against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi and Karachi from August 21 to September 3.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal (subject to fitness), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi