Revealed: Why Shaheen Afridi was removed as Pakistan captain only after 1 white-ball series?

It has been confirmed that Shaheen Afridi will no longer captain the Pakistani team in the shortest format as PCB has re-appointed Babar Azam as captain of the white ball team. Babar will resume captaining the Green Army in ODIs and T20Is while Shan Masood has been retained as the Test captain. But why did the board sack Shaheen from the leadership role?

According to trusted sources from the PCB, the board has clarified its stance to Shaheen Afridi that they want to see a batsman lead the team in their white-ball affairs.

The Mohsin Naqvi-led administration is of the view that a bowler might not be able to handle the team in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 as better as a batsman. Therefore, Babar Azam, who had stepped down from the role himself in November 2023, was brought back for the white-ball team.

This development about Babar Azam’s re-appointment was confirmed by the PCB through a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) earlier today.

Going by the same reports from our internal sources, it all happened after the chief selection committee led by Wahab Riaz visited the ongoing training camp held at the army regiment of Kakul in Abbottabad where Shaheen Afridi was hoping to get some good news.

Shaheen Afridi was sacked only after a series of captaining the team in New Zealand

It was the chief selectors who informed Shaheen Afridi about their wish to see him removed from captaincy. He had a terrible first-ever series as captain when they toured to New Zealand 2 months ago for a T20I series right after enduring a 3-0 loss during the Test series in Australia. That was the first time in 4 years that Babar Azam was not operating in the leadership role.

In New Zealand, the Shaheen Afridi-led Pakistani team was hammered 4-1 in the T20I series and that is possibly the reason why PCB decided to sack him. It is also being said that Afridi is unhappy with the way captaincy was snatched from him, that too, without giving a solid reason.

But now that it has been confirmed, Babar Azam will head over to the USA and the West Indies as captain in the ICC T20 World Cup for the 3rd time in a row.

Babar Azam discussed with his father before reaching an agreement with the PCB

It was also reported that Babar Azam had a serious consultation with his father as to whether he should accept the offer from PCB or not. The star batsman has always taken his father’s advice before making any major move in his cricketing career which began in 2015.

4 years after his debut, Babar’s performance was such that he was offered captaincy for the first time in his career and since then he hasn’t looked back.

Moreover, reports have also claimed that Babar’s close associates had advised him to not resume captaincy until he was given assurance that it wouldn’t be a short-term decision.

His associates’ major concern was that if Pakistan undergoes a poor T20 World Cup in June like they endured in the 50-over WC last year, then PCB might want to replace him.

And that’s something that has happened before as well but now that Babar has made a comeback in the leadership role, the board would have agreed to his demand.

Meanwhile, the 29-year-old will begin his second stint as the skipper with the 5-match T20I series against New Zealand on home soil from 18th April onwards.

The Green Army will then head over to Ireland and England for a 3-match and 4-match T20I series later this May. It will now be interesting to see how Shaheen Afridi plays under Babar’s captaincy.