Karachi. Pakistan announced the team for the ICC T20 World Cup and there was a controversy about it. Just before the tournament, Babar Azam was again given the command of the team by taking the captaincy from Shaheen Afridi. After this, the news came out that no vice-captain of Pakistan has been announced because Shaheen refused to take this responsibility. Now the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has clarified on this matter on Saturday.
The PCB said the national selectors never offered Shaheen the role of vice-captain ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup in the US and the Caribbean. Many reports claimed that Afridi was offered the vice-captaincy role in the Babar Azam-led Pakistan team but the left-arm pacer turned down the offer.
A source close to one of the national selectors told PTI, “The selectors were surprised by this news because when they held a two-hour online meeting on Friday, 6 out of 7 selectors were not in favour of having a vice-captain for Babar Azam. The minutes of the meeting have been recorded as per the instructions of the PCB chairman. So today’s news of Shaheen rejecting the offer to become the vice-captain was a surprise for the selectors.”
However, it was revealed that in March a selector had asked Afridi if he would like to become the vice-captain in the future. The fast bowler flatly turned down the offer.
Pakistan team: Babar Azam (captain), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wicketkeeper), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.
Tags: Babar Azam, shaheen afridi, T20 World Cup
FIRST PUBLISHED : May 25, 2024, 21:43 IST