Shaheen Afridi brushes captaincy rumours & clarifies air after allegedly disrespecting Mohammad Yousuf

Shaheen Shah Afridi, Pakistan’s fiery fast bowler, has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Just when it seemed like their is no major news coming from Pakistan cricket fraternity, the talented pacer found himself at the center of a storm.

Babar & Afridi’s captaincy shuffles

It all started with a short-lived captaincy stint. After Babar Azam stepped down from captaincy following Pakistan’s disappointing ODI World Cup campaign in India. Shaheen was then given the reins of the T20I team. Unfortunately, his captaincy tenure didn’t go as planned with Pakistan losing a series to New Zealand 4-1. This led to Babar reclaiming the captaincy, just two months before the T20 World Cup. However, then another debacle occurred as Pakistan failed to qualify for Super Eights for the very first time.  

Incident involving Afridi & Yousuf

But the real drama unfolded during Pakistan’s tour to England. Reports surfaced of a heated argument between Shaheen Afridi and former Pakistan batter Mohammad Yousuf, who was serving as an interim batting coach as well. While the exact details of the altercation remain unclear, it caused quite a stir in the cricket world. Allegedly, Shaheen asked Yousuf to ‘mind his business‘.

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Never bring negativity, says Afridi!

Amidst all the chaos, rumors began circulating about Shaheen’s behavior and attitude towards the coaching staff. There were even whispers of potential disciplinary action, including a possible ban from the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh. The young pacer, however, denied any knowledge of these reports, insisting his focus was solely on representing his country.

“All team members are my friends. I was raised well and I always fight for my country,” Shaheen Afridi said as per Cricket Pakistan. “I never think about captaincy. My prime focus is to represent my country and would never bring negativity into the team,” he added.