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Former Pakistan opener and former captain Salman Butt believes that left-arm quick Shaheen Afridi should be given more time to get accustomed to the captaincy role.
Following the 50-over World Cup in 2023, Babar Azam stepped down as captain of Pakistan from all formats, with Shan Masood taking over the duties in Tests.
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Ahead of the five-match T20I series against New Zealand in January, Afridi was announced as the new captain of Pakistan in the shortest format.
Several other changes were made, such as demoting Babar to the No.3 position and employing Saim Ayub as an opener with Mohammad Rizwan.
Nothing went as planned, though, as Pakistan lost the first four T20Is to the hosts. They managed to avoid a 5-0 whitewash by beating the hosts in the final T20I, thus ending their disastrous losing streak in international cricket across formats as they had lost 3-0 against Australia in the preceding Test series. But it wasn’t enough as the team was poor on all fronts, and they had been poor for a couple of months by then.
With the T20 World Cup less than four months away, and Pakistan hassling to find solutions, reports have emerged which state that under the new regime of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Babar might be reappointed as the captain of the national team.
MORE: Is Mohammad Amir making a comeback to the Pakistan cricket team?
What did Salman Butt say about Pakistan T2oI captain Shaheen Afridi?
In a pint-sized interview uploaded by Sports Paktv on their YouTube channel, Butt was first asked about the recent talk regarding different captains for different formats, to which the former opener replied: “Captaincy is something which must be handed to the player who is capable of it. The problem with Pakistan news [outlets] is that four outlets side with one player and four outlets side with another. No one being neutral and talking anything related to logic.”
He went on to add that the captains are usually removed from the role everytime the Pakistan cricket team experiences a World Cup debacle.
“Whenever a Pakistan team has experienced a World Cup debacle, there has been a change in captaincy. Tell me one instance where a captain was changed after a good World Cup or wasn’t changed after a bad World Cup. Pakistan’s issue is not captaincy, it’s the players’ performance,” Butt said.
The reporter asked Butt whether Afridi should continue being the T20I captain ahead of the T20 World Cup. Butt claimed that every captain should be given time to settle in to the role.
“Of course, he (Afridi) should [continue]. If you can change captains on a daily basis, you should also give time to them. You gave Babar four years, didn’t you? Then you give him a playing field and tell him to get a result. If he doesn’t, then tell him clearly that you won’t be the captain. Things won’t get better if you keep changing captains every week or every month. When you do that, there are six former captains in the playing XI, and that way the team will never be set,” Butt explained.
What next for Pakistan?
The Pakistan cricket team will not be in action until late May, when they will tour England for four T20Is, after which they will travel to the USA and the West Indies for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
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