Zaka Ashraf: “No, the unity didn’t end (after removing Babar Azam as captain). In fact, the unity improved”
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Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf has insisted that the friendship between limited overs captain Babar Azam and left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi isn’t strained.
Rumours have been circling that the duo don’t see eye to eye, even though they themselves have denied it and expressed their respect for each other.
Afridi replaced Azam as T20I captain in November 2023 after the latter stepped down as skipper in all three formats.
However, the 24-year-old’s tenure as T20I captain only lasted one series as Azam was reappointed as limited overs skipper in March 2024.
Ashraf noted that instead of causing a rift, relations between Azam and Afridi actually improved.
“No, the unity didn’t end (after removing Babar Azam as captain). In fact, the unity improved. When we told him to play as a player, which is his talent, but as a captain, his performance is not good, he agreed,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam and Afridi were recently in action in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Bangladesh, with the former making 64 runs at an average of 16.
As for Afridi, he only featured in the first Test and picked up two wickets at an average of 48.
Pakistan lost the series 2-0 and will now take on England in a three-match Test series from October 7 to 28.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, 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