Shaheen Afridi extends support to Babar Azam amid captaincy rumours

Shaheen Afridi has given an indirect hint of his support for Babar Azam, amid speculations about the left-arm pacer replacing the current Pakistan skipper for the three-match series against Afghanistan in Sharjah.

According to a media report, the selection panel led by Haroon Rasheed, is considering a proposal to rest some senior players, including Babar and Rizwan for Afghanistan series. The report further added that Shaheen Afridi is likely to lead the Pakistan team in place of Babar and the Lahore Qalandars' captain has been consulted regarding it.

Shaheen may have put an end to these rumours as he posted a picture on his Twitter account on Monday morning, in which he is standing behind Babar, with Pakistan flag as caption for the tweet.

🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/GThWYJSXAF

— Shaheen Shah Afridi (@iShaheenAfridi) March 12, 2023

Last month, Shaheen had also defended Babar after Amir’s ‘tailender’ comment for the Pakistan captain.

"Babar Azam is number one player and we respect him since he is our captain. If we won’t respect him as captain, who else will?" Shaheen had said.

Earlier on Sunday, Shadab Khan also revealed that he is not privy to any information regarding being rested along with Babar and Rizwan for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in Sharjah.

"There is no such thing, if there was such thing then we would have that information. I have spoken to both of them [Babar and Rizwan] and no such thing has been conveyed to them that all of us are getting rested," Shadab said on Sunday.

"If we were being rested, then definitely any such thing would have been told to us. If there is such thing, then no one has contacted us," he added.