Pakistan’s premier fast bowler Shaheen Afridi, who is injured at the moment and on the sidelines, took a sarcastic dig at the critics of Pakistan’s top order batsmen Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan after the second T20I against England yesterday.
England scored 199 runs batting first in the second T20I against Pakistan and it seemed as if they would be able to take a 2-0 lead in the series, as they had won the first T20I as well, but as it turned out, Pakistan’s opening pair of Babar and Rizwan chased down the target of 200 single-handedly and Pakistan didn’t lose even one wicket in the chase.
Babar and Rizwan had to take a lot of criticism for their strike rates in the recently concluded Asia Cup where Pakistan lost the final match against Sri Lanka. Rizwan, in the Asia Cup final, had scored 55 runs off 48 balls while chasing a target of 171 and many people believed Rizwan’s knock cost Pakistan the game and the tournament.
There were a couple of people in the Pakistani media who were suggesting after the Asia Cup that Babar and Rizwan play more for themselves, rather than the team and because of them occupying the crease for a long time, the middle order doesn’t get enough time to make a mark in T20I cricket.
When Babar and Rizwan chased down 200 all on their own last night against England, Shaheen Afridi posted a tweet and jokingly said that this target of 200 should have been chased down in 15 overs.
Proud of this amazing Pakistani team: Shaheen Afridi
Shaheen further wrote sarcastically that Babar and Rizwan took the game to the last over only because they are selfish players and were playing for themselves. The southpaw, however, at the end of his tweet made it clear that he was only joking, as he finished the tweet saying that he was extremely proud of his “amazing” team.
I think it is time to get rid of Kaptaan @babarazam258 and @iMRizwanPak. Itne selfish players. Agar sahi se khelte to match 15 overs me finish hojana chahye tha. Ye akhri over tak le gaye. Let's make this a movement. Nahi? 😉
Absolutely proud of this amazing Pakistani team. 👏 pic.twitter.com/Q9aKqo3iDm
— Shaheen Shah Afridi (@iShaheenAfridi) September 22, 2022
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Interestingly, Aaqib Javed, the head coach of Lahore Qalandars which is a team captained by Shaheen in the PSL, had said a few days ago that his team doesn’t try to get Babar Azam out early whenever Babar’s team is chasing 180 plus in the PSL because Babar’s batting keeps taking the required run rate higher and higher which is good for the opposition.
