Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has come up with a clarification regarding the vice-captaincy post for the T20 World Cup after the reports suggested that the erstwhile T20 skipper Shaheen Afridi rejected the offer from the board. As per a report by ESPNCricinfo, during the selection meeting for the T20 World Cup squad, the team management and selectors had zeroed in on Shaheen as Babar Azam's deputy but the left-arm pacer denied the same.
A day later after the second T20I between Pakistan and England, PCB issued a statement regarding the same. "During Friday's selection committee meeting, discussions on the vice-captaincy took place. However, it was unanimously decided not to appoint anyone. As such, no offer was made to any player. The side is fully united, committed and keenly looking forward to the upcoming matches in the UK and the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024," the PCB said in a statement on Twitter (now X).
Shaheen was named as skipper in T20Is for Pakistan following the World Cup 2023 debacle but the 4-1 loss to New Zealand in his debut assignment as the captain didn't help. Babar was reinstated as the captain in both the white-ball formats and the return hasn't been as auspicious as he and the Pakistan team management would have liked.
Pakistan drew a five-match home series against New Zealand B team, lost the series opener against Ireland but came back to win the series 2-1. Now Pakistan have lost the second T20I against England and to stay alive in the series, they will have to win the remaining two games given that the first match was washed out at Headingley.
Pakistan picked their T20 World Cup squad the last, but on the expected line with Salman Ali Agha, Muhammad Wasim Jr and Hasan Ali missing out.
