Hyderabad: Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi questioned the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) over giving Babar Azam a long rope in the leadership role in spite of him failing to lead the team to any major trophy. Afridi also added that there should be consistency in the team selection and the constant changing and chopping will do no good.
Babar is receiving flak from several former cricketers and fans as the team exited from the group stage of the T20 World Cup 2024. While speaking on the sidelines of the World Championship of Legends, he vouched for a change in the captaincy.
"They should decide on the captain or the coach and then give them time. As far as Babar is concerned.. I have captained, Younis (Khan), and Misbah have captained a lot. A captain never got so many chances. As soon as the World Cup is over, often the captain used to be the first one who got the blame. Babar has led in two-three World Cups, two-three Asia Cups, T20 World Cups, he has had enough opportunities. If you want to keep Babar, in my opinion, a lot of things have been done. If you bring in someone new, give him chances," Shahid Afridi said.
Recently, PCB ousted Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq from the selection committee. The PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi had promised that surgery would be carried out to improve things after Pakistan’s lacklustre show in the T20 World Cup. Afridi questioned this selective chopping as well.
"I got to know that only Abdul Razzaq and Wahab Riaz have been sacked from the selection committee. I don't understand this surgery. If the selection committee is of 6-7 people then why only these two have been removed?" Afridi added.
Pakistan suffered a defeat against arch-rivals India and also were stunned by the USA which culminated in their early exit from the tournament. Bangladesh will tour Pakistan for two Tests in August and it will kick off a busy home season for Babar and Co.
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