Babar Azam should have supported Shaheen Afridi as captain, says Shahid Afridi

Former cricketer Shahid Afridi reopened the debate on Pakistan’s captaincy after the Men in Green’s embarrassing exit from the ongoing T20 World Cup. They lost to USA and India which almost ruled them out of the competition but the Babar Azam-led side bounced back against Canada, which gave them some confidence. However, rain played spoilsport in the match between the USA and Ireland, which ruled the team out of the competition.

After their exit, Shahid Afridi pointed out the mistakes the selector's committee made and added that Babar shouldn’t have taken back the captaincy role. Notably, the 29-year-old relinquished all forms of captaincy after the ODI World Cup 2023, and following this, Shan Masood was made the Test captain while Shaheen Afridi was appointed as the new T20I captain.

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There were a lot of expectations under Shaheen’s leadership, but Pakistan lost to New Zealand in the five-match T20I series and later, the pacer also failed to do well as captain in the PSL. Looking at that, the selection committee reappointed Babar as captain, and that as per the former cricketer was a wrong decision. He noted that Babar shouldn’t have taken up the role and instead, assured Shaheen and supported him in the middle.

“If the decision on Shaheen's captaincy had been made and you (PCB) had stated that he will remain the captain till the (T20) World Cup, then I think Babar should have supported Shaheen there and should have said that, 'No, if you have made him (Shaheen) the captain, then we are ready to play under his captaincy because Shaheen has been playing with me for a long time.'

"'If he is made captain and the selection committee has made him the captain, then yes, I will support him and play under his captaincy'. This is the stance Babar should've taken. Babar's respect would've increased greatly because he then would've set an example with a remarkable decision,” Afridi said on his YouTube channel.

Also Read - Reports: Babar Azam likely to continue as captain after Pakistan's lacklustre outing in T20 World Cup 2024

The 47-year-old added that he doesn’t blame Babar for taking up the role but reminded that some of the selectors on record dashed him in the past for his poor leadership skills.

“But this was not entirely the fault of Babar because some of the blame lies with the selection committee too since some of the selectors on record said that Babar doesn't know how to do captaincy,” Afridi concluded.