‘Neither by me nor by Babar Azam’ - Shahid Afridi criticizes decision to name Shan Masoood as vice-captain

Pakistan's home series defeat against New Zealand in ODIs and England in Tests raised a lot of questions over possible captaincy changes in Pakistan cricket. Current Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was immensely criticized for his leadership ability. There have long been discussions about whether selectors would want to think beyond Babar as a captain, albeit with no official statement so far.

However, a few reports emerged that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) were considering Shan Masood as a strong candidate after he was named as a vice-captain for the ODI series against New Zealand. But Shahid Afridi, former interim chief selector, criticized the call from PCB, questioning the logic behind picking Masood for the role, revealing that he was not even in consideration for a position in the team for the New Zealand series.

"Shan Masood should not have been named as vice-captain of the ODI squad. The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should have taken the captain or chief selector under confidence; he was neither under consideration by me nor by Babar Azam for the first two ODIs against New Zealand, Shan Masood cannot be named as captain or vice-captain of the Pakistan Cricket Team based on his performances for Derbyshire," said Afridi as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.

Babar Azam has a lot of room for improvement: Shahid Afridi

Rumours of PCB looking into three different captains for different formats also surfaced but Shahid said that he is not in favour of the idea. He said Babar can improve his leadership quality in future. He also suggested that Pakistan can have one captain for Test and ODI formats and a separate captain for the shortest format.

"I believe that Babar Azam has a lot of room for improvement in his captaincy. I am not in favour of having three different captains for the different game formats, and instead suggest naming one captain for ODI and Test cricket and a separate captain for T20s." Afridi said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan players will be seen playing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) which is set to begin on February 13. After the conclusion of the tournament, the Men in Green will clash against the Blackcaps again in April for the five-match ODI and T20I series.