Shaheen Afridi opens up on being removed as Pakistan captain for Babar Azam: ‘Small disagreements happen in family’

Pakistan’s pace battery Shaheen Shah Afridi has denied rumors of discontent in the squad owing to a swift change in the captaincy after he was removed from the leadership position and former skipper Babar Azam was reinstated.

“Sometimes, small disagreements happen in every family, even among brothers. But there’s nothing like that in our team,” Afridi said on the PCB podcast.

“Our players listen to each other, and we listen to them too. Our job is to play cricket and bring joy to our nation,” he added.

Shaheen was named T20 captain to succeed Babar Azam, who was removed as the all-format captain afer Pakistan’s poor run at the ODI World Cup last year in India. Shaheen’s appointment was made on the basis of his ability to lead Lahore Qalandars franchise in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) to two successive titles.

The left-armer further stressed on the camaraderie within the Pakistan camp ahead of the T20 World Cup this summer. “We aim to play with unity, and this is not the time for arguments or disputes. It’s the time for everyone to be on the same page.”

On his own form, Afridi added, “I am bowling with rhythm and pace, and I am enjoying my spells. Unfortunately, nowadays in T20 cricket, every bowler ends up having a bad day in one match or another. That is the nature of the challenges bowlers face now.”

Afridi’s poor show with the ball was called a major reason for Pakistan’s dismal show at the World Cup last year. The 24-year-old clinched 16 wickets from the nine league games but leaked 409 runs for the same.

Afridi has a better record to show in the T20Is as opposed to the 50-overs format, averaging 20.4 with 88 wickets to his name from 64 outings.

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Pakistan open their World Cup campaign against co-hosts USA on June 6 in Texas.

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