A lot has been said and written about the Pakistan cricket team following their disappointing exit from the Asia Cup as they failed to win two big games against India and Sri Lanka in the Super Fours and failed to qualify for the finals. Yes, the Men in Green were hit by injuries but the performances of the rest of the squad were lackluster too. The reports of a rift between two star players – skipper Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi started doing the rounds and ahead of the squad announcement for the World Cup, several things have been said.
Is there any truth to the alleged rift? No one knows, but Shaheen ensured that whatever there was, was ended then and there as he shared a beautiful post on social media on Tuesday, September 19 alongside skipper Babar with the caption, “Family”, followed by a heart emoji. This happened on the day he was getting married to former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi’s daughter Ansha Afridi.
The post has gone viral on the internet as the fans couldn’t stop praising Shaheen for showing his love for Babar even on the most important day of his life.
Pakistan have been hit by injuries to a few key players and loss of form to stars like Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan doesn’t help. So are there concerns for Pakistan before the World Cup? Yes, surely. But other teams including India, Australia and South Africa also have been hit by injuries.
If injuries hadn’t taken place for players like Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Salman Agha, who knew Pakistan could have even won the Asia Cup being one of the strongest teams in the tournament apart from Asia Cup. But their absence affected other players and team morale as well. However, Pakistan still have a few days to figure out their final 15 and will hope to give a strong performance come the World Cup.