Was never in favour of Babar Azam leading Pakistan, says Shahid Afridi
Shahid Afridi (Photo credit MONEY SHARMA/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s fair to say that Babar Azam has turned the fortunes of the Pakistan cricket team. The skipper has led from the front and took Pakistan cricket to great heights. Recently, he led Pakistan to the semifinal of the 20-20 World Cup and even gave Pakistan their maiden World Cup win over India. Naturally, Babar now has the backing of the current and former players.
However, the story was different when he took over the reins of the team. Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has revealed that he was never in favour of Babar Azam leading the Pakistan team. Afridi though added that Babar has proved him wrong and led the team ably.
Speaking to Samaa TV, Afridi revealed he felt that leading a national team will have a negative impact on Babar’s batting which is why he was not in favour of the No 1 T20I batter taking charge as the skipper. The all-rounder though is happy to be proved wrong.
“I was not confident that he (Babar) would be able to lead the squad. But, he has proved me wrong with his performance (as captain),” Afridi said to Samaa TV
"I was never in favour of @babarazam258 captaincy but he proved me wrong, I had advised @iShaheenAfridi to wait for a year or two before accepting captaincy, so that he can focus more on his bowling but as he is also an Afridi, he didn’t listen to me,”
#SamaaTV @SAfridiOfficial pic.twitter.com/0YLs2qOgIq— Sawera Pasha (@sawerapasha) December 22, 2021
Afridi also expressed similar concerns regarding his would be son in law and Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi. Shaheen was recently handed the leadership reigns of PSL franchise Lahore Qalandars. Afridi said he wanted Shaheen to focus more on bowling but he didn’t listen and agreed to become the captain.
