Pakistan’s woes in Australia continued as they lost yet another series on Australian soil. The Pakistani team is yet to win a Test match in Australia for a long time and the defeat in Melbourne was their 16th consecutive defeat in the country. It was a tough first challenge for Shan Masood facing a powerful Australian team at home.
Big names like Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi, who is also the vice-captain of the team, did not play up to their reputation and performed below their standards. After the tour of Australia, Pakistan will travel to New Zealand for a five-match T20I series and will play under the leadership of Afridi.
While Shaheen Afridi is the current captain of Pakistan’s T20I team, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi did not want Shaheen to become the captain of the T20I team. In a viral video, Afridi was seen praising wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan and saying that he wanted Rizwan to become the captain of Pakistan’s T20I team.
Shaheen Afridi made Pakistan T20I captain by mistake – Shahid Afridi
However, Shahid Afridi further added that Shaheen became the captain of the T20I team by mistake. Afridi said during a public event: “Mohammad Rizwan is very focused on his game. He doesn’t care what others do and I really like that quality. He is a fighter. “I wanted Rizwan to be the captain for the T20I, but Shaheen Afridi was made captain by mistake.”
Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood were named captains of Pakistan’s T20I and Test team after Babar Azam resigned from the captaincy of all three formats. Babar’s decision was taken after Pakistan’s dismal performance in the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Shahid Afridi praised Muhammad Rizwan and said that Rizwan should have been T20 captain but Shaheen was captain by mistake.#Rizwan #PakistanCricket pic.twitter.com/TSECe93ZPM
– Ahtasham Riaz 🇵🇰 (@AhtashamRiaz_) December 30, 2023
Pakistan faced an early exit from the tournament and could barely win four matches out of nine matches. Babar Azam’s performance with the bat was also not attractive and he scored only fifty in the entire tournament. Babar’s decisions as captain were trolled by critics due to which he had to resign as captain of the team.
With the T20 World Cup ahead next year, Shaheen Afridi will have a daunting task on his hands and once again regroup the team. Afridi has not performed well in international cricket after recovering from his injury and his pace and swing have decreased.
Pakistan will play a five-match T20I series against New Zealand starting on January 12, 2024. The series will take place right after the tour of Australia.
The third Test match of the Qadir-Benaud Trophy will be played from January 3, 2024 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney.
Shan Masood-led team lost the first two matches of the series by 360 and 79 runs respectively. The Australian team will want to finish the tour with a victory in Sydney and avoid the whitewash. However, all players in the team must step up if the team wants to do something different in Sydney.
