Shaheen Afridi Is Ideal Candidate To Lead Pakistan - Danish Kaneria Urges PCB To Sack Babar Azam

At at time when Babar Azam-led Pakistan would have loved to focus solely on the World Cup, a major controversy has engulfed them. Following two disastrous performances in the recently-concluded Asia Cup 2023 and the subsequent exit from the competition, reports of unrest in the Pakistan dressing room emerged.

As per reports, captain Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi were involved in a furious altercation. It all began when Babar Azam was giving his teammates a piece of his mind after the loss against Sri Lanka. Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan had to intervene to separate Babar Azam and Afridi to bring the situation under control.

Recent reports have also suggested that Babar Azam is not a popular captain among his teammates. Most of his teammates including the established names do not like his captaincy and his attitude on the field. There were also claims that former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi is pushing for Shaheen Afridi to replace Babar Azam as the captain.

Danish Kaneria on Babar Azam:

With Babar Azam’s captaincy under the scanner, former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has opined that the right-handed batsman is not an ideal captain and should be replaced. Speaking to Times Now, Kaneria opined that he would like to see pacer Shaheen Afridi as the new captain of the Pakistan cricket team.

Backing Afridi, Kaneria stated that the pacer has an aggressive mentality and highlighted that he has already proven his acumen as a captain by leading Lahore Qalandars to two consecutive finals in the PSL. Earlier this year, Qalandars won their maiden PSL title under Afridi’s captaincy.

“Shaheen Afridi is the ideal candidate to lead Pakistan. He has the aggression. Ladke ki aankhon mein aggression dikhta hai (His eyes reek of aggression). That is the quality that you need in your captain. Also, look at his performance for Lahore Qalandars in the PSL,” Kaneria said.

“Our chairman (Zaka Ashraf) has said that Pakistan will persist with Babar Azam as captain till the World Cup. I feel, after the World Cup, Shaheen should be immediately made captain,” he added.

Speaking further, Kaneria expressed his frustration over Pakistan’s performance in the Asia Cup. Pakistan began well before suffering two crushing defeats. India thrashed them by 228 runs before Sri Lanka chased down 252 in 42 overs on a tough pitch.

“Look at what India did. They rested Jasprit Bumrah in the less important matches, and also chopped and changed their lineup according to conditions. Pakistan, on the other hand played the same team throughout the tournament, and this caused the injuries to our main bowlers (Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah). They should have also played an extra spinner keeping the Sri Lankan conditions in mind,” Kaneria added.