Since last year, Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been leading the side across all formats. Recently, under his leadership, Pakistan made it to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2021, registering memorable victories over India and New Zealand in the league stage.
There is no doubt that Babar has proved his credentials as a successful skipper of his country. However, when Pakistan’s frontline speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi was asked to rate the ‘best’ captain between Babar and wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan, the fast bowler picked Rizwan as his choice.
Afridi was quizzed about this while addressing a press conference after being recently appointed as the captain of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Lahore Qalandars. Afridi said he began his domestic career with Rizwan, and therefore he would rank Rizwan ahead of Babar.
“I like [Mohammad] Rizwan’s personality. I started playing domestic competition with him from KPK’s side, and I would rate him as the best. Since Babar has done a fantastic job with the national team, I will rank him second,” said Afridi as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Though, Afridi heaped praises on Babar for being a tremendous captain for Pakistan cricket. The left-armer reckoned Babar has done a fantastic job as the skipper of the national side, and they have reached new heights under Azam’s inspiring leadership.
“Babar Azam is my favourite batsman, and he is the number one batter as well. He has done fantastically well as a captain for the national team, and we are reaching new heights under him,” added Afridi.
Notably, Afridi has represented Pakistan in 21 Tests, 28 ODIs, and 39 T20Is. He has taken 86 wickets in the longest format while 53 in the ODIs. When it comes to the shortest format, the left-arm pacer has 45 scalps to his name.
