Pakistan’s white-ball captain Babar Azam has talked about his equation with ex-T20I skipper Shaheen Afridi which was assumed to be affected after Babar replaced Shaheen as a skipper. Notably, the pacer was at the helm during Zaka Ashraf’s chairmanship, however, as Mohsin Naqvi replaced him, multiple changes were brought into action. Babar taking charge of white-ball captaincy was one of them.
It was assumed that Babar-Shaheen relationship would be badly affected as the young bowler was removed unjustly. He just got one T20I series earlier this year to prove his mettle but could not have a fair start to captaincy tenure.
Followed by eight defeats in the round-robin stage of the Pakistan Super League (PSL 2024) for Lahore Qalandars, further questions were raised on Shaheen’s potential as a skipper, especially ahead of the all-important T20 World Cup 2024 looming around the corner.
As a result, Chairman Naqvi brought back Azam, who put certain conditions on the table to accept the captaincy offer. Earlier, Azam was reportedly forced to resign as an all-format skipper after Pakistan’s poor stint in the World Cup 2023 in India.
Hence, the reports stated that he was fearful to re-sign the contract, which forced him to put forward his conditions. Two of the conditions were leadership of limited-over cricket and not to remove him as a skipper before the T20 World Cup. Consequently, Shaheen was set free from the role.
Shaheen also put an Instagram story after he was removed as the T20I skipper. His cryptic story left suspense among fans if his relationship with Babar is at stake. It read,
“Never ever put me in a position where I have to show you how cruel and ruthless I can be. Don’t test my patience. Because I might be the kindest and sweetest person you’ve ever met, but once I reach my limit, you’ll see me do the things that no one thought I was capable of doing.”
However, as quoted by Hindustan Times, skipper Azam has rejected all fabricated reports. He states,
“I want to make clear that Shaheen [Afridi] and my bond is not recent, it goes back a long way. We support each other in every situation. Our aim is to put Pakistan first, and how to put Pakistan’s name up in lights. We don’t think of individual glory, and thankfully, those elements are not present in my team,”
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