Shaheen Shah Afridi in action for Pakistan during a Test match.
Photo : AP
Shaheen Afridi’s omission from Pakistan’s Test squad against South Africa was very surprising. The left arm pacer was a catalyst behind Pakistan’s ODI series triumph against South Africa recently.
As per some recent reports, Shaheen sought some time off from red ball cricket to concentrate more on white ball cricket ahead of the Champions Trophy scheduled for next year.
Now it has emerged that wasn’t the case at all. As per Cricket Pakistan, Shaheen was asked by a PCB selector to take part in a four day match ahead of the squad announcement and a similar directive was issued to Babar Azam also.
Shaheen was unable to meet up with the selector’s asking which led to his dropping from the squad. Babar too failed to comply with but he was included in the squad. As per the report, Shaheen remains an avid admirer of Test cricket and even offered to stay after the ODI series in a bid to help his team. But no one from the team management showed the intention to hold him in South Africa.
The report also added that a particular selector has had an authoritative attitude towards the player which has created a sense of dissatisfaction among the players. Pakistan are not in contention for the World Test Championship final irrespective of their result against the Proteas in the ongoing Test series.
The Champions Trophy schedule has also been published with the Indian Cricket Team playing their matches in Dubai. The much awaited India vs Pakistan clash will be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on February 23 with the final scheduled to take place on March 9. The final will be held at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore but if India qualify for the summit clash, it will then take place in Dubai.
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