Shahid Afridi livid on the omission of Shoaib Malik from the Pakistan 20-20 World Cup squad
The Pakistan World Cup squad was announced yesterday, and the big talking point was the lack of experience and quality in the middle order. Shan Masood has been drafted in but he has not played any limited overs cricket for a long period of time. In light of the same, former Pakistan great Shahid Afridi said that Pakistan veteran Shoaib Malik should have been a part of Pakistan’s T20 squad.
Shahid Afridi was of the opinion that if someone like Shoaib Malik would have been in the side, Babar Azam, the skipper, would have someone to fall back on for advice with regards to reading the pitch or the team combinations.
Shoaib Malik has been there and done that for Pakistan cricket over a career that spans more than two decades. He has also been the skipper of Pakistan and if he was there then he would have viewed things from a different standpoint.
“He has played cricket across the globe and has done well everywhere. He is a top choice for every franchise. He is also supremely fit. Babar Azam would have gotten a lot of support if Malik had been there, even if he was on the bench”, said Shahid Afridi while speaking on Samaa TV.
Someone like Shoaib Malik would have been a game changer – Shahid Afridi
“The selectors should have communicated with him if he wasn’t a part of their plans”, he added.
If Shoaib Malik would still have donned the Pakistan colours then he would have been a perfect fit in the middle order for the Men in Green. The veteran would know how to shepherd an innings according to the game situation and would have been a good part time off-spin option with the ball as well.
An experienced middle order batter was found lacking for Pakistan in the recently concluded Asia Cup 2022 as the side suffered a lot of collapses in the multilateral tournament.
