"I have 1 question for you..." - Shahid Afridi fights Wasim Akram after Pakistan's CT 2025 disaster
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Former Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi has hit back at his former teammate Wasim Akram after the latter had asked for a complete overhaul of the country's cricket team. Afridi asked Akram whether it is possible after looking at the current situation of Pakistan's domestic cricket.
Pakistan are going through one of their worst times in the history of cricket as they suffered humiliating defeats to New Zealand and India to be knocked out of the Champions Trophy. The loss led to widespread criticism for the team and Wasim Akram didn't hold back as well.
Wasim Akram asks PCB to take a "bold step"
Wasim Akram was furious after seeing Pakistan perform this way and asked the PCB to take a "bold step" by bringing in young and inexperienced players who can play fearless cricket. Akram didn't mind dropping some senior players as he felt that they weren't doing much for Pakistan cricket.
“Enough is enough. We are losing in white-ball with these players from some couple of years. The time is to take a bold step. What is the bold step? As Waqar Younis was saying, bring young players, fearless cricketers and bring them in white ball cricket," Akram had said on a local show 'Dressing Room'.
Pakistan's outdated approach was exposed badly during the tournament as they struggled to keep pace with the other teams. The batters were unable to give their team fiery starts at the top and also struggled to change gears when required.
Shahid Afridi hits back at Wasim Akram
After listening to Wasim Akram, Shahid Afridi decided to respond to him. While speaking on Samaa TV, he claimed that it is easy to get carried away after such a defeat but one should not forget that Pakistan doesn't have replacements for the current players.
Afridi further asked Wasim to name the players who are capable of replacing the current ones and also argued if Pakistan have prepared enough players in the domestic circuit who are ready for international cricket.
“I was listening to Wasim (Akram) bhai that day. Yes, we all got carried away by emotions (after the loss to India). He said that 6-7 players need to be dropped from the side. Wasim bhai, I just have one question for you," Afridi said.
“Do you have 6-7 players on the bench who can replace them? Do you have players of those standards in domestic cricket? Have we groomed them in the academies?" the former Pakistan allrounder wondered.
Pakistan's disappointing campaign ends
After suffering back-to-back defeats to New Zealand and India, Pakistan were eliminated from the Champions Trophy 2025. Rain washed out their final group-stage match against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi.
The no. of dot deliveries played by them in their two matches was one of the main reasons for their downfall. Pakistan played 161 dot balls against New Zealand and 147 against India which didn't get them to a challenging score.
It is the first ICC tournament in Pakistan in 29 years but the home team finished winless. It was a huge disappointment as their supporters were desperately waiting for their team to perform well in a global tournament on home soil.
