- Misbah-ul-Haq criticizes PCB for how they handled captaincy changes.
- Babar and Shaheen removed as captains in a way Misbah considers "unpleasant"
- Shaheen's removal was about workload management and avoiding injuries.
Misbah expressed that the removal of Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi from their captaincy roles was not handled appropriately.
“The process of changing captain in Pakistan is extremely unpleasant and this affects the players,” Misbah stated during a media interaction in Lahore.
“Babar was removed from captaincy in the wrong manner and so was Shaheen Afridi.
“Both Babar and Shaheen are our star players and my best wishes are with the team and I hope they perform well.”
It’s important to note that the Pakistan Cricket Board appointed Azam as the new white-ball captain of the national team last month.
The PCB explained that the change was “a strategic move aimed at ensuring player well-being and peak performance”.
“While Shaheen Afridi has undeniably proven himself as a star fast bowler, leading Pakistan’s pace attack over the years, the board recognises the importance of rotation and rest to maintain his peak performance. This decision aligns with board’s commitment to safeguarding the longevity of the players, especially fast bowlers given their injury timelines in the past two years,” the PCB further elaborated.
“Keeping in mind workload management, this decision is to ensure Pakistan main bowlers remain at the top of their game. The board does not want the national men’s team to run into injury crisis concerning the bowling resoucres as seen before the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, where Shaheen had to bee closely looked after and ICC ODI Cricket World Cup 2023, where the team didn’t have the services of Naseem Shah.”
Last year, Shaheen took over from Azam as the T20I cricket captain and from Shan Masood in Tests.
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