Shahid Afridi Breaks Silence on Rumours of Shaheen Wanting Pakistan Captaincy
Rumours of rift between Shaheen and Babar has circulated in the last few days [Twitter]
Following Pakistan’s humiliating exit from the 2023 Asia Cup, tensions began to soar in Pakistan’s dressing room. As the Men in Green approach the highly-anticipated World Cup tournament, they can be seen doing a lot of finger-pointing at each other. They entered the tournament as hot favorites but a shocking defeat to India and Sri Lanka has severely dented their team spirit.
Amidst growing tensions, speculations began to circulate about a possible rift between Babar and his teammates. Moreover, a recent video also came to light where Shaheen could be seen having a heated confrontation with the Pakistani skipper. While some rumors have also been doing the rounds on social media suggesting a captaincy change to Shaheen Afridi prior to the commencement of the World Cup with Shahid Afridi being tagged in the rumour.
The legendary leg-spin bowling all-rounder Shahid Afridi responded to these claims in a recent interview with Samaa TV.
During his interaction, Afridi expressed that he was extremely disappointed with how the media has been involved in fabricating certain facts. He rubbished these rumors and stated that he had instead advised him to refrain from captaincy.
"I was scrolling through my Twitter, and I saw that now they're running something with my name that Shahid Afridi stated, in my opinion, Shaheen Afridi can lead the team better than Babar Azam, Lahore Qalandars won a PSL trophy under his captaincy.
I don't understand why they are saying such things, even though I express my views on Samaa. I share my perspective on Samaa, but they interpret it in their own way. Although I am the only person who keeps Shaheen away from the captaincy.”
Meanwhile, the reports of a verbal clash between Shaheen and Babar were denied by a senior Pakistani player who insisted that the players only shared their thoughts. He further emphasized that the team is concerned about what is happening on the field and gives very little importance to negative speculations.
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