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Ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024, the Pakistan cricket team is one among some chaos as reports reveal that speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi rejected the role of the vic e-captain. As reported by ESPNcricinfo, the youngster was approached by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to be Babar Azam’s deputy, but refuted to take up that position.
It is to be noted that these reports come into picture after Pakistan named their 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024, set to be played in the United States of America (USA) and the West Indies just a day prior to the deadline of May 25. However, the PCB named the side just in times, they eventually failed to name the vice-captain for the side.
But the latest development in the PCB - Shaheen Shah Afridi saga just hints that the challenges that lie after weeks of being stripped off the captaincy role in the shortest format of the game. The Pakistan pacer took over the T20I captaincy after Babar Azam resigned from the role after Pakistan’s dismal outing at the ODI World Cup 2023 in India.
However, his reign at the helm was short lived where he led the side to only one international series, where the Men in Green suffered a 1-4 defeat at the hands of New Zealand.
We’re very close to achieving T20 World Cup glory: Shaheen Afridi
The former Pakistan skipper earlier in a podcast said that the Men in Green have a decent chance to lift the T20 World Cup title. He added that with the kind of hard work that the players have put in, the side can end their ICC trophy draught, supporting his words with an example from the PSL.
“It’s not possible that you put in the hard yards, and you don’t get the results. Like Lahore Qalandars put in the hard work for six years (in PSL). They did the player development program as well and despite finishing at the bottom in the early years, they won back-to-back tournaments recently,” Shaheen said on the PCB podcast.
“And the Pakistan team is in a similar process, we’re very close to achieving (T20) World Cup glory,” he further added.
