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Pakistan cricket has been in the spotlight following a disappointing T20 World Cup 2024 campaign, where losses to the USA and India saw them fail to progress to the Super 8 stage. This poor performance has led to significant scrutiny of team captain Babar Azam, who had recently taken over from Shaheen Afridi.
Leadership under fire: Babar Azam and selection committee changes
The fallout from the World Cup failure has extended to leadership and management changes within the Pakistan cricket setup. Babar, who succeeded Shaheen Afridi as captain, has been heavily criticized by former cricketers for his leadership. In response to the debacle, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made the bold decision to remove former cricketers Abdul Razzaq and Wahab Riaz from the selection committee, signaling a broader shake-up in the team’s structure.
Shaheen Afridi’s misconduct allegations
Adding to the turmoil, Pakistani speedster Shaheen has been accused of misbehaving with white-ball coach Gary Kirsten and assistant coach Azhar Mahmood during recent tours. Several media reports from Pakistan, including Geo News, suggested these incidents occurred during Pakistan’s tour of Ireland and the T20 World Cup. Despite these serious allegations, team managers reportedly took no action against Afridi, prompting the PCB to launch an investigation i𝓰nto why the pacer was not disciplined for his inappropriate behavior.
“Shaheen misbehaved with the coaches and management during recent tours but no action was taken by the team managers on the pacer’s inappropriate behaviour. Maintaining discipline in the team was the responsibility of the managers which is why it is being investigated why action was not taken against Shaheen despite misbehaving. The board is also probing players who have lobbies and the benefit that is being gained from it. Sources have further said that the team’s coaches have complained to the PCB chairman about the non-seriousness of players and disciplinary violations in recent tours,” the report stated.
Frustration over discipline and unity
The alleged misconduct by Afridi has highlighted deeper issues within the Pakistan team, particularly around discipline and unity. According to sources, coaches have expressed frustration over the lack of discipline among some players during the tours. Kirsten, in particular, has been vocal about the lack of unity in the squad and has criticized the team’s fitness standards, emphasizing the need for players to prioritize “fitness and unity.”
Also READ: ‘It depends on..’: Shahid Afridi shares his blunt take on Gaut𝐆am Gambhir as🀅 Team India’s new head coach
Leadership shifts and future prospects
Shaheen’s tenure as captain of Pakistan’s white-ball sides was brief and turbulent. After Babar stepped down following a poor ODI World Cup 2023 performance last year, Afridi led the team but faced significant challenges, including a 4-1 defeat in a T20I series to New Zealand in January. This led to Babar being reinstated as captain before this year’s T20 World Cup.
Here’s how Fans reacted:
Mr. Naqvi (), as fans, we want you to make Gary Kirsten's report public.
We deserve to know what went wrong in the🌌 T20 World Cup. We are concerned about how only the portion related to Shaheen Afridi has been leaked to certain favored journalists.
— M (@anngrypakiistan)
Mohsin Naqvi's channel running propaganda against Shaheen Afridi? Itna obvious bhi mat karo. They wanted to get rid of him for so long now.
Just to be clear his performance isn't reason behind team's poor run in the WC 24. Each and everyone failed.
— Abdullah (@michaelscottfc)
Shahid Afridi is the sports director at Samma, while Geo News is the media partner of LQ, and both revealed the news first. And why would Garry Kirsten have personal issues with Shaheen because it was Garry who reported Shaheen's behavior to the Chairman?
— Hassan Abbasian (@HassanAbbasian)
Pakistan cricket is a never ending soap opera – maybe its time Netflix put out a casting call for the roles.
Who would you cast for the main roles? – open to all suggestions 🙂 here's mine
Gary Kirsten : Robert Downey Jr
Babar Azam : Kevin Hart
Shaheen Afridi : Dwayne Johnson…— AmerCric 🏏 ✍️ (@Amermalik12)
I do think that Shaheen might've lobbied against Babar.
But I also think that the sudden criticism over him from all sides on media is a doing of Saya Corporation too.
N༒ow that he has left them, they are trying to make him the sole reason why we got kicked out the world cup.— K. (@RotiKholDeyo)
Big Breaking- According to former selector of Pakistan Wahab Riaz , Shaheen Afridi after getting sacked as T20I captain became disrespectful and slapped coach Gary 💯Kirsten after WC exit.
Shameful from Sofaset
— BALA (@rightarmleftist)
Imran and Farid have b🔯een tweeting against Babar since yesterday to save theirꦏ ladla Shaheen. They feel that the report has been submitted by babar and not by new coach Gary Kirsten
Foundation se zakat mil rahi shayd dono ko
— ЅᏦᎽ (@13hamdard)
You can criticise Babar Azam's captaincy and everyone should bcz Babar Azam did not show up. But just making an agenda against him after Gary Kirsten accused Shaheen of lobbying does not seem to be fair. Get proofs, public it and Shaheen Afridi should be removed from team
— Sports syncs (@moiz_sports)
Kiun k Shaheen aap ka pace attack lead kr raha tha and you expect some maturity from a grown man , no??
Kirsten ko pesay diye hain kia babar ne???— Malai-boti (@s_ilent123)
Imagine the reaction of Karachi mafia nd Shoaib Jutt if Babar were in Shaheen place in the reports by Gary Kirsten and Azhar Mehmood. What if Shaheen were the captain and Babar was lobbying? We would be seeing so many threads on 🌌Twitter, Spaces, and trendsᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ against Babar azam.
— Maaz 🇵🇰 (@Im_MaazKhan)
Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie are new recruits of saya Corp that's why they and azhar mehmood blamed shaheen as main culprit. Wait shaheen was part of saya too right??? I thought saya wasn't going to be touched
— Mohammad Qureshi (@Qureshi_005)
shaheen should be dropped, idc about the captaincy issue. why is he taking it out on kirsten and his coaching staff? a new coach trying to establish himself in a team going through its wor🐓st phase in years and you’re just making his 🅠job more difficult. enjoy domestic for a bit
— moh (@mohkxm_)
