Babar Azam breaks silence about ‘rift’ with Shaheen Afridi. Pakistan captain Babar Azam spoke out on Tuesday about an alleged verbal altercation with bowler Shaheen Afridi following an Asia Cup 2023 match.
During a press conference at Gaddafi Stadium prior of the team’s travel to India for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, the right-handed batsman answered to the queries.
He said, “There is no ill will in the dressing room. There are discussions after every loss but they get twisted into something else entirely. The entire team is like a family and there is love and respect there”.
The skipper also talked about the exclusion of Naseem Shah, saying: “Of course we will miss Naseem Shah as Shaheen [Afridi] and Naseem bowling together gave us a different edge”.
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“It was not easy to pick his replacement, but we all sat together and got input from [chief selector] Inzamam ul Haq. We went with Hasan Ali because he has experience. He has played the World Cup before. I cannot comment who will bowl the new ball or the old ball, as we cannot reveal our strategies right now. But we have not made any concrete plans right now, it will become more clear to us when we travel to India and assess the conditions.”
“We are leaving for the World Cup tonight; the morale of the team is high and we are very confident. We will try to come back with a win, we request you all to back us and pray for us,” he said.
Babar Azam breaks silence about ‘rift’ with Shaheen Afridi, watch the full conference here:
Mohammad Babar Azam is the current captain of Pakistan’s national cricket team in all formats. He is largely considered as one of the best batsmen in modern cricket. He is the number one batter in one-day internationals, third in T20Is, and fourth in Tests.
