Former Pakistan greats Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi have voiced their opinion on the latest move by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to appoint Babar Azam and Azhar Ali as T20I and Test captain respectively.
On Friday (October 18), PCB released Sarfaraz Ahmed from both T20I and Test captaincy to hand over the reins to young blood Azam and Ali respectively, who previously led Pakistan in ODIs for 2 years in the past.
While Shoaib has bemoaned the outgoing captain Ahmed’s poor form in recent times, Afridi feels the national selectors could have look for some experienced man to lead the T20I side in place of talented Azam, given the upcoming T20 World Cup 2020.
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The former fast bowler said that Sarfaraz has shown the “lack of decision making and leadership quality” in recent times which led his ouster. Taking to Twitter, Shoaib said: “I saw it coming for Sarfraz. Nobody else is to be blamed but him. Been telling him for two years to pull up his socks.”
Meanwhile, Afridi, former Pakistan captain, lauded Sarfaraz for his fine job as national captain and advised him to put in hard work in domestic cricket to make a strong comeback as a player.
On his official Twitter handle, Afridi shared a video, where he can be seen saying: “You have done very well for Pakistan cricket. You have taken the team to the No.1 spot in the T20I format. You have led Pakistan to a Champions Trophy triumph. Age is on your side and you can put in hard work in domestic cricket and make a comeback to the team as a player.”
However, the legendary all-rounder admitted that Babar is the backbone of Pakistan cricket but giving the T20I captaincy to Shoaib Malik would have been a more sensible move at least till World Cup.
Afridi signed off by saying, “No doubt Babar Azam is the backbone of the team, he is a consistent performer. However, given that the T20I World Cup is coming up, giving the T20I captaincy to Shoaib Malik would have been a more sensible move. The best move would have been to appoint Shoaib Malik as captain till the World Cup.”
On the other hand, Faizan Lakhani, a well-known Pakistani journalist, and Ali Khan Tareen have paid tribute to Sarfaraz and thanked for his services as national skipper.
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