Atif Rana: “We had a meeting with Imran Khan after we made Shaheen the captain. At that time, Imran Khan praised our decision and told Shaheen, ‘If you keep playing like this, you will rule world cricket for the next 8 to 10 years'”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Pakistan captain and all-rounder Imran Khan had previously told left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi that he would “rule world cricket for the next 8 to 10 years” if he kept performing well, according to Lahore Qalandars CEO Atif Rana.
Rana recalled that Imran was pleased with the Qalandars’ decision to appoint Afridi captain and felt the 25-year-old had all the talent needed to be a successful fast bowler and leader.
It should be noted that Imran, who led Pakistan to World Cup glory in 1992, is widely considered to be the country’s best-ever all-rounder.
“We had a meeting with Imran Khan after we made Shaheen the captain. At that time, Imran Khan praised our decision and told Shaheen, ‘If you keep playing like this, you will rule world cricket for the next 8 to 10 years’,” Rana told Cricket Pakistan.
“Imran Khan said he doesn’t consider batsmen as captains – he believes a true captain is a bowler. Hearing such words from such a legend was very special for us and for Shaheen as well.”
In the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL), Afridi played a pivotal role in leading the Qalandars to the title as he was the highest wicket-taker with 19 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 16.42 and an economy rate of 7.76.
Despite dominating in PSL 10, Afridi did not get selected for Pakistan’s three-match T20I series against Bangladesh, which the men in green won 3-0.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper) and Saim Ayub
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