‘Trying to zip his lips’: Latif defends Shadab amid vice-captaincy rumours

Former cricketer, Rashid Latif, has said that the current regime at Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is trying to punish Shadab Khan for merely speaking the truth.

In the post-match press conference after losing the second T20I against Afghanistan, stand-in captain Shadab had said, "Now everyone would have understood the importance of Babar and Rizwan."

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Pakistan captain, Babar Azam, and wicketkeeper, Mohammad Rizwan were rested from the recently-concluded Afghanistan series, which Pakistan lost by 1-2.

The above statement by Shadab didn’t go well with the board, and now there are talks of removing him from the post of vice-captain in limited-overs format.

While reacting to the aforementioned news on his YouTube channel, Latif slammed the board for mentally torturing the Pakistan cricketers.

"One person is trying to speak the truth but they [PCB] are trying to zip his lips. Disturb him so much that he leaves cricket and make him a psycho. Why do 90 per cent of Pakistan players become psycho after leaving cricket? They become psycho because of Pakistan Cricket Board," Latif said.

"I don’t understand who brings these people in the board," he concluded.

Babar will once again take the responsibilities as captain in the upcoming T20I and ODI series against New Zealand.

According to sources, top PCB officials were also not happy with the decision making of Shadab in Afghanistan series and have decided to rest him for against the Kiwis.

Usama Mir is likely to be given a chance in place of Shadab as leg-spinner in the squad.

New Zealand team will arrive in Lahore and play three T20Is from 14-17 April before traveling to Rawalpindi, where the final two T20Is and first ODI will be played from 20-26 April. The tour will culminate in Karachi, with the remaining four ODIs to be played from 30 April to 7 May.