"Do you have anyone to replace Babar Azam?" - Shahid Afridi reacts to reports of wholesale changes in Pakistan team after T20 World Cup debacle
Legendary Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi is strictly against dropping some of the big names from the current Pakistan squad that got eliminated from the T20 World Cup. The Men in Green failed to qualify for the Super 8 phase, with India and USA taking the top two spots in Group A.
Afridi claimed that he had read several rumors about a hard reset in Pakistan cricket with new faces because they failed to get out of their group. While Afridi was one of the many former cricketers who questioned Babar Azam's leadership, he is against dropping the likes of Babar and Mohammad Rizwan completely from the team.
In a video on his YouTube channel, here's what Shahid Afridi had to say about these rumors:
"I saw on social media that they want to drop 8-9 players. I don't know what's the reality but this can't happen. If you wan't to drop Babar, not as a player, do you have anyone to replace him? Do you have any performer like Babar? Do we have a replacement for Rizwan in our bench?"
Shahid Afridi had recently claimed on his YouTube channel that he would have respected Babar even more had the latter accepted to play under Shaheen Afridi's leadership. Shaheen was sacked as Pakistan's T20I captain by the newly appointed PCB Chief Mohsin Naqvi and Babar was reinstated as the white-ball skipper.
Shahid Afridi wants PCB to reward domestic performances
Shahid Afridi has urged the PCB to reward the players who have been performing consistently in domestic cricket and not those who have been showing flashes of brilliance. He believes that the performers should get ample time to settle in the team environment so that the team is set up before the next World Cup.
On this, he stated:
"If we continue to select players on the basis of 2-3 innings and ignore stars of domestic cricket, it's harsh on those who perform in the domestic circuit for years."
Pakistan will end their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign with a game against Ireland in Florida on Sunday, June 16. Only time will tell if the debacle will lead to wholesale changes in the playing contingent.