Ahmed Shehzad has slammed PCB for making Shaheen Shah Afridi a scapegoat. (Picture Credit: Screengrab)
Shaheen Shah Afridi was dropped from Pakistan’s 12-man squad announced on Thursday (August 29) for the second Test against Bangladesh at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
Out-of-favour Pakistani batter Ahmed Shehzad took to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday to slam the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Pakistan’s tram management once again after they decided to drop star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi from Pakistan’s 12-man squad for the second Test against Bangladesh, which is set to start on Friday (August 30) at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
According to Shehzad, Shaheen is not the only player responsible for Pakistan’s recent poor performances in international cricket. He accepted that the pacer’s performances haven’t been up to par in recent months, but removing him only from the side won’t help the cause, and instead, all the non-performing players should be dropped from the side.
In a video posted on his X account, Shehzad said, “You lost to Zimbabwe; you lost to Ireland; you lost to the USA; you lost to India; now you lost to Bangladesh. Is Shaheen Afridi only responsible for all of this?”
“Shaheen Afridi won’t be solely responsible for all of this. So, bring all those people who were involved in all of this. Tell this country. So, it is wrong to blame Shaheen Afridi for all of this. Yes, his performances are low, his attitude is problematic, you dropped him, that’s a good thing. But what about the rest of the people involved in all of this? What about the rest of the performances?” he asked.
The right-handed batter questioned the contribution of openers Abdullah Shafique and Saim Ayub, along with star batter and former captain Babar Azam, for the team in the last 10+ Tests.
“What about Abdullah Shafique’s performance in the last 8 Test matches? What about Saim Ayub’s performance after 25 matches? What about Babar Azam’s performance in the last 14 Test matches? So just by barring them, there won’t be any surgery; there won’t be any Pakistan team on the right track. There are some decisions that will have to be taken. And those people who are involved in all of this, whose performances are low, they will also have to be held accountable,” he said.
The member of the 2009 T20 World Cup-winning Pakistani team said that the country is above everything else, and if PCB wants to do something for the better of Pakistan cricket, then it has to get rid of all the non-performing players.
“Because no one is greater than cricket and the country. The country is above everything else. No matter how many people run PR, no matter how many people hide behind personal milestones, no matter how many people buy boards, no matter how much money someone invests, we know everything. And those who are handling the helm of affairs in PCB, they also know everything. So, now the time has come that not just one person, if you really want to go in the right direction, then you will have to bring all of them to the gutter. This won’t work.”
The Pakistan cricket team will be in action once again as they look to redeem themselves after the loss in the previous game. The Shan Masood-led side will take on Bangladesh in the second Test in Rawalpindi.