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Pakistan Cricket Board is reportedly set to drop Shaheen Afridi from the captaincy to re-appoint Babar Azam as the skipper of Pakistan men’s T20I team. As per reports, the PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi met the former captain earlier this week and made the offer. However, Azam hasn’t said yes to the offer yet. Notably, Pakistan’s star batter was removed from the captain’s position across the formats after the team delivered a poor show at the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in India.
Shan Masood replaced Azam in the Test format while Afridi was picked to shoulder the responsibility of their T20I captain. Reports by ESPNCricinfo state that Azam has asked the cricket governing body to reappoint him as the captain of all formats if he is to reconsider his return. The decision to drop the bowler as the captain came after the poor show of leadership during the T20I series against New Zealand 4-1.
Earlier a report by PTI stated that the board lost its faith in Masood and Afridi to lead the national side in upcoming tournaments. However, as the report mentioned, Azam is now showing some attitude. According to a source, "The funny part is that the powers that be appear to have lost faith in Shan Masood and Shaheen Shah Afridi's ability to lead the national side in Test and T20 formats with the change in the board's chairmanship.”
The source added, "Feelers have been sent out to Babar to find out if he is ready to take charge again and he has shown some reservations. Apparently, he wants some assurances from the board chairman.” According to another source, “Shaheen, during Zaka's time, was seen as the saviour of Pakistan cricket as T20 captain as he had won two finals for Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League. But he now appears to have run out of favour very quickly with the change of guard in the board.”