Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi has come under scrutiny amid Lahore Qalandar's poor show in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) campaign. After leading the franchise to back-to-back titles in the last two campaigns, Shaheen Lahore Qalandars have failed to inspire this season. The franchise's performance was sub-par this season, winning only one match and finishing bottom of the points table. According to Cricket Pakistan, Shaheen is set to lose his place as captain of the Pakistan T20 team.
According to the report, Shaheen is too young to take responsibility for now.
“PCB's new chairman Mohsin Naqvi has received suggestions for a change in captaincy. Some feel that 23-year-old Shaheen is too young for this responsibility and needs more maturity,” the report said.
Pakistan will take on New Zealand in a T20 series next month, and the call on Shaheen's future as captain is more likely to be answered by Naqvi, with the upcoming T20 World Cup in mind.
“On the other hand, some board members believe that a decision to change leadership just before the World Cup may not be wise as it could negatively impact the team's performance. The final decision will be taken by the chairman,” the report said.
It is also worth noting that wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan could be appointed as the new captain, with former skipper Babar Azam's name also under discussion.
“In case of a change, Muhammad Rizwan is more likely to be appointed for the role. However, Babar Azam will also enter the fray,” the report further suggested.
For those unfamiliar, Shaheen took over as Pakistan T20 captain after Babar stepped down from his role after the ODI World Cup in India last year.
Babar had quit his role after Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament.
Shaheen led Pakistan in a five-match series in New Zealand earlier this year. However, the visitors lost the series 1-4 and thus won the last match of the series.
On the other hand, both Rizwan and Babar will look to guide their respective franchises to the PSL title.
Rizwan's Multan Sultans finished the group stage in first place, having won seven of their ten matches.
Peshawar Zalmi also qualified for the play-offs on Monday, beating Karachi Kings in a crunch game with Babar scoring a fifty.
Babar is the top scorer of the tournament so far with 498 runs in nine matches.
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