Shahid Afridi surprised by Babar Azam's reappointment as captain
The 29-year-old was reappointed skipper in place of Shaheen Afridi
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has shared his two cents on the appointment of Babar Azam as captain of the white-ball formats.
The 29-year-old was reappointed skipper in place of Shaheen Afridi, who only led the team in one T20I series which was played against New Zealand in January 2023.
The Green Shirts lost the five-match series 1-4 which cast doubts on the left-armer’s abilities as a captain.
Afridi, in his post, maintained that Mohammad Rizwan is still the best choice if the change was necessary and took a dig at the decision of the selection committee.
"I am surprised by the decision by very experienced cricketers in the selection committee. I still believe that if change was necessary then Rizwan was the best choice.
"But since now the decision has been made I offer my full support and best wishes to team Pakistan and Babar Azam," he added.
“Babar Azam appointed as white-ball captain,” the PCB posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“Following unanimous recommendation from the PCB’s selection committee, Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi has appointed Babar Azam as white-ball (ODI and T20I) captain of the Pakistan men's cricket team.”
Babar met with the chairman of PCB, Mohsin Naqvi, to discuss the plans ahead of the T20 World Cup after which the current Interior Minister decided to give him the realm of the team.
Remember, it was reported earlier that Azam asked to be named the captain across all three formats in order to accept T20I captaincy.
It is worth mentioning that Babar Azam has so far captained Pakistan in five international tournaments — T20 World Cup 2021 and 2022, Asia Cup 2022 and 2023, and World Cup 2023 — but the Green Shirts have not won any ICC or Asia Cup titles under his leadership.
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