Babar Azam
relinquished
Pakistan
captaincy after a poor ODI World Cup last year, which led to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appointing fast bowler
Shaheen Shah Afridi
as the team's captain. However, Shaheen's captaincy lasted just one series, which angered former Pakistan captain
Shahid Afridi
, who has once again brought it up in light of Pakistan's poor run in the ongoing
T20 World Cup
in the US and West Indies.
In March earlier this year, following PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi's repeated refusal to back Shaheen as captain, the PCB brought Babar back at the helm to lead in T20Is and ODIs.
T20 WORLD CUP: Schedule | Points Table
At that time, former allrounder Afridi, who is the father-in-law of Shaheen, expressed his surprise at the decision, while vowing to offer "full support" to Babar. But after Pakistan's defeats against minnows USA and archrivals India, the 2009 T20 World Cup winner has expressed his displeasure on the decision to remove Shaheen as captain without giving him a longer run.
"Har insaan ki apni soch hai. Mai isko iss tarah leta hu ke meri nazar mei, duniya ki nazar mei, Babar Azam ki izzat aur zyad upar ho jaati agar woh ye stand leta apne player ke liye ki 'main Shaheen ki kaptaani mei khelna chahta hu...Shaheen ko agar bana diya kaptaan toh ye galat tareeqa hai ke aap usko fauran kaptaani se hata dein' (everyone has his own opinion. How I see it is that in my eyes and the eyes of the world, respect for Babar would have grown had he said at the time that he will play under Shaheen's captaincy and that it was wrong to remove Shaheen as captain so early)," said Afridi on a Pakistan news channel.
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Afridi went on to add that if there is groupism in any team, it reflects poorly on the captain and indicates lack of respect for the leader among the team.
"Whenever there is grouping it means that the captain's respect in the dressing room among the players is going down," said Afridi.
He also criticized Babar for never taking responsibilty for a defeat and almost every time blaming it on the bowlers.
"At every presentation you (Babar) criticise the bowlers..You never take responsibility. I haven't heard, other than on an odd occasion, that you put responsibilty (of a defeat) on the batsmen.
"A captain has to take everybody forward with him...If a captain is of a strong character, then news like formation of groups in the team will never come out," said Afridi, often referred to his 'Lala'.
Pakistan defeated Canada on Tuesday, which was their first win of the tournament and kept their 'Super 8' qualification hopes alive. However, there progress is not just in their hands. Despite a win over Canada in their third match, Pakistan want results in other remaining matches in the group to go in their favour, besides winning their last match against Ireland.
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