Pakistan captain Babar Azam reportedly had a heated argument with Shaheen Afridi. (AP Image)
Pakistan captain Babar Azam reportedly had a heated argument with Shaheen Shah Afridi in the dressing room after their Asia Cup 2023 exit
Just a few weeks ago, Pakistan were the number 1 ranked ODI team and they were considered one of the front-runners for the Asia Cup 2023 title. However, it seems their exit from the Asia Cup has caused trouble in paradise. Babar Azam’s men finished last on the Super 4 points table with just one win.
According to reports from Pakistani media, Babar had a heated argument with Shaheen Shah Afridi in the dressing room after the side’s defeat to Sri Lanka which marked their exit from Asia Cup 2023.
As per Pakistani media outlet Bolnews, Babar and Shaheen were involved in an argument after the side’s Asia Cup elimination and Mohammad Rizwan had to broker peace between the duo.
The report claimed that Babar was not at all pleased with the performances of the senior players. The 28-year-old made his displeasure clear to the seniors in the Pakistan team and urged them to perform better.
The situation reportedly boiled out of hand when Shaheen Shah Afridi told Babar that he should at least praise those players who had bowled and batted well. The outlet claimed that Babar was not happy when he was interrupted by Shaheen, and the captain responded by saying that he was very well aware of who was playing not and who needed to step up.
Rizwan and head coach Grant Bradburn sensed that the situation was getting out of hand so they intervened. Babar subsequently left to attend the press conference and from there he went straight to the team bus and to the hotel, without talking to any of the players.
PCB chief Zaka Ashraf has formed a cricket committee that will review the performances of the Pakistani team in the Asia Cup 2023 and they will also plan which players could be included or excluded from the squad ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 in India.
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Pakistan began the Asia Cup on a positive note beating Nepal and then gave the Indian team plenty of headaches in the group-stage clash which was washed out. They finished top of the group and beat Bangladesh but were beaten by India by 288 runs, their worst defeat to the Men in Blue in ODI cricket. That was followed by another narrow loss to Sri Lanka which eliminated Babar’s side.
With less than a month remaining in the ODI World Cup, Babar has plenty of issues to address including the fitness woes of star players such as Naseem Shah who is likely to be ruled out of the World Cup with a shoulder injury, while Haris Rauf is also not fully fit.
