PAK vs AFG: Shahid Afridi Speaks For The 1st Time After Pakistan's Loss To Afghanistan; Brutally Tarnishes Babar Azam

Former Pakistan captain Shahidi Afridi has shared his views on Babar Azam‘s captaincy in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.

Babar Azam is facing severe criticism for his batting as well as captaincy as Pakistan are on the verge of getting knocked out of the World Cup. The Men in Green began their competition with wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka. Babar Azam failed to do well with the bat in both games, registering scores of 5 and 10.

In the following three games, he scored two half-centuries but Pakistan ended up losing all of them. Their winning start came to an end against India before Australia as well as Afghanistan defeated them. While Australia beat them by 62 runs, Afghanistan thrashed them by 8 wickets to register their first-ever ODI win over Pakistan.

Shahid Afridi on Babar Azam’s captaincy:

With Babar Azam’s captaincy being a major talking point in the Pakistani cricket fraternity, Shahid Afridi has also expressed his views. The former allrounder began by talking about the importance of the captain’s leadership quality and its impact on the team’s overall performance.

“When you are not in the game [not focused], then these things [fielding issues] will happen. When you are trying to hide somewhere, when you are not thinking positively, I think that at times we are waiting for miracles, miracles don’t just happen. They happen with brave men who know how to fight,” Shahid Afridi told a local media channel.

“Look, a captain is everything. If a captain gives his best, dives during the field, backs other players between overs, the entire team will get [more] active, because when they see that the captain is giving his all and we are not, they feel ashamed that my captain is doing so much, why can’t I be the same?

“It has happened in the past, when I was the captain or Mohammad Yousuf was, when we used to run in the ground and support players, then the entire team used to charge up. When Inzamam would dive during the field, then, believe me, we players used to feel ashamed that why are we not diving when the captain is. At the end of the day, everything comes right back to the captain,” he added.

Speaking further, Shahid Afridi said that a captain needs to be proactive to put pressure on the opposition. Against Afghanistan, Babar Azam took some surprising calls and paid the price for it as Afghanistan chased down a big total of 283 runs with utmost ease by losing just two wickets.

“It is the captain’s job to apply pressure, a pacer is bowling and there is no slip? Four are required on 12 balls and you’ve taken backward point? Apply pressure. What do the Australians do? They take one to two wickets and then put all of their players in the circle to apply pressure, like they did against Pakistan.

“Captaining your national side is a matter of honour but it is not a bed of roses. When you do good, everyone praises you and when you don’t, everyone blames you as well as the head coach,” Shahid Afridi concluded.

Pakistan are currently at the fifth spot in the points table with 2 wins and 3 defeats. Another defeat could very well end their slim chances of progressing to the semifinal. Their next game is against South Africa on October 27th at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.