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Shaheen Shah Afridi as new T20 Captain: Will he be insurmountably better than Babar Azam or just another casualty at the altar of captaincy?
Shaheen Shah Afridi's fortunes have changed significantly since the golden LBW delivery to Rohit Sharma in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. His red-hot form in that World Cup also forced the think tank of the ever struggling Lahore Qalandars to take a gamble and make him captain of their franchise side despite no prior reasonable captaincy experience and a very young age. Even his own Father-in-Law, Shahid Afridi, advised him to steer clear of the captaincy fuss due to his inexperience in this area. But fortunately for LQ, the gamble paid off greatly and turned the erstwhile notorious chokers into serial winners with the privilege of being the only PSL side to win the tournament twice on trot. Amazingly, Shaheen Shah Afridi not only excelled in the role of captain but also improved immensely his own bowling prowess under the enormous pressure of captaincy.
Shaheen Afridi’s spectacular performance as a captain in the domestic arena coupled with the unexpected resignation of Babar Azam from captaincy paved the way for Shaheen to be appointed as the next T20 captain of Pakistan. And now as he has been officially entrusted with this responsibility, the expectations from him to excel in this role are sky high owing to his glorious recent captaincy record in the Pakistan Super League(PSL).
Challenges for Shaheen Afridi as a T20 captain:
Now let’s delve into the challenges that await Shaheen before his entrance into this new role. The first and foremost challenge for Shaheen Afridi would be to replicate his glorious form as captain from the PSL front into the International arena, otherwise he would not be viewed as a role model by other youngsters in the team and can also not lead by example.
Replacing dosti yaari XI with deserving XI
Another big challenge for Shaheen as a captain would be to dispel the impression of DOSTI YAARI (the like and dislike) culture within the Pakistan dressing room. This controversy has plagued team green for long in the recent times and also was responsible for some of the bad performances from the players due to the extra layer of pressure. Also promoting and accommodating the right set of competent and deserving players would not only promote the culture of meritocracy but would also significantly enhance the performance graph of the entire team. Another advantage of shunning this culture of favoritism would be that the players would remain alert and non complacent. And thus, will also remain focused on their immediate task of performing well for the team instead of pursuing personal milestones and individual goals that in the end, brings nothing but disaster for the team instead of glory.
Meeting and exceeding the high standard set by the former captain Babar Azam
Matters will not be easier and rosier for him as they are in franchise leagues as the competition on the international level of a much higher standard and challenging. In addition, the success criteria set by the former captain Babar Azam is exceedingly high to meet which in turn makes things even more difficult for young Shaheen. For instance, Babar has a winning percentage of almost 60% in T20 internationals and was able to make it to at least the Semi Finals of the T20 World Cup tournaments that he has been part of as a captain. So for even to be considered on par with Babar, as a captain Shaheen needs to make it to the Semi Final of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the Caribbean and USA. And mind you, to end up in the Semi Final of the T20 WC tournament 2021 was the worst ever captaincy performance by Babar Azam as the captain of the shorter format. So the standards set by his predecessor are tall if wants to make a name for himself among the all time great T20 captains.
Snubbing the commentators that call him pedestrian
The third Challenge for Shaheen will be to rediscover his coveted red-hot form that made him the mega star that he is today. Especially the rediscovering of the knack to rattle wickets early on in the innings particularly in his very first over would be something he will want to rediscover.
Another important battle for Shaheen Afridi would be to shut the mouth of his critics who have called him average, pedestrian and the most ‘cash in bowler’ who leaks run freely. With the added responsibility of captaincy on his shoulders now, it has now become evenly important for him to improve his bowling prowess significantly and snub the haughty commentators like Ravi Shastri, Irfan Pathan, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram etc who have taken made comments about his dip in performance and speed recently. Also, it is a mandatory and prerequisite requirement for any person entrusted with the role of captaincy to be a torch bearer for the whole side through his exceptional performance and with the raising of a lot of eyebrows of late regarding the slow pace of Shaheen’s deliveries it has become incumbent upon him to fix this issue on top priority by bringing his A-Game for the national side.
Managing the dressing room environment and the challenge of dealing with senior players
Another big challenge for Shaheen Afridi would be to manage and maintain a healthy and conducive dressing room environment that allow other players to express their talent and skills freely without getting under the skin of others and feeling insecure. The good thing for Shaheen here would be his invaluable past experience with the Lahore Qalandar’s franchise where he has managed many big names and egos like Rashid Khan, David Wiese, Sikandar Raza, Fakhar Zaman and Liam Dawson etc and that too successfully and despite being much junior to them in age. So, Shaheen could use his man management skills here to steer the ship well for the team in future.
Ending the T20 trophy drought for Pakistan
The fifth and another important challenge for Shaheen would be to get his team over the line. As in the past few years, they have fallen tantalizingly short of claiming the silverware glory in T20 WC tournaments. So for Shaheen as the new T20 captain, the biggest challenge would be to end the 15 year long World Cup trophy drought in the T20 format. As Shaheen was the one to end the 6 year long trophy drought for LQ that even the greats like Brendon Mccullum, Azhar Ali and no other LQ captain could do, so for many he would also be the special one for Pakistan to end their trophy drought in the T20 format later this year.
Incessant fear of removal from captaincy owing to strong potential captaincy alternatives
Another uphill task for Shaheen would be to retain his position as the captain. Unlike Babar Azam, he may not get a prolonged captaincy tenure due to strong potential captaincy alternatives in the current side. The biggest competitor for Shaheen Afridi would be non other than his own Vice-Captain wicket keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan who not only is a consistent performer for Pakistan but also is a much better captaincy option than Shaheen according to many experts owing to his vast domestic captaincy experience and great player management skills. Even Shaheen's own father-in-law Shahid Afridi recently in a private gathering has expressed his preference of Rizwan over Shaheen for the coveted captaincy position because of Rizwan's indifferent approach to the criticism of the critics and his great goal oriented approach. Also, to perform well as the T20 captain would be of doubly importance for Shaheen as the prospect of being a future ODI captain for Shaheen Afridi greatly hinges on his solid performance in the shorter T20 format. If Shaheen can achieve something really big with the T20 side then he can potentially emerge as the next white ball captain for team Pakistan, otherwise Rizwan or Shan Masood are in line to be named as the next ODI captain. So, besides a great stream of expectations, the incessant fear of being removed from captaincy would be another challenge for Shaheen to overcome in his upcoming captaincy stint.
Shaheen's exceptional captaincy record- A glimmer of hope for fans
Shaheen's own extraordinary record as captain is something to bank on for the Pakistan cricket fans. Shaheen Afridi has the best win/loss ratio among all the PSL captains ever. Another encouraging thing for PCT fans is the ostensible improvement in the performance of Shaheen both as a bowler and batter since his elevation to the captaincy post in PSL. For instance, before being anointed as captain, Shaheen's batting strike rate was a lowly 104.7 which soared to a whooping 165.4. Also, his batting average augmented by threefold from 7.7 to 22.1 runs per innings. So unlike majority of other players who crumble under the sheer pressure of captaincy, Shaheen has shined otherwise under his captaincy tenure. So, one could expect a wholesome performance from Shaheen Shah Afridi in his upcoming captaincy stint.
Red
dot presents stats after captaincy
Green
represents stats before captaincy
Conclusion :
Shaheen Shah Afridi’s captaincy could be the missing piece of puzzle in the tournament-winning combination of Pakistan, but at the same time, this massive opportunity could also be deleterious for Shaheen, as in the past many captains have lost their form and good will owing to lackluster performances as captain. But bearing in mind the phenomenal record of Shaheen as captain for the Qalandars it would be safe to say that he had a good chance to excel Pakistan's cause. He has already proven many people wrong who were sceptical of his success as captain by managing to win trophies for proven chokers like Lahore so he really could bring success as captain to national side too. But still he won’t be reckoned as the special one unless he brings the coveted T20 World Cup trophy with him this year or anytime soon. The first ordeal of Shaheen starts on Friday in the series against New Zealand, let’s see how he performs there because the performance there would could foreshadow his success ahead.
Shaheen Shah Afridi's fortunes have changed significantly since the golden LBW delivery to Rohit Sharma in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. His red-hot form in that World Cup also forced the think tank of the ever struggling Lahore Qalandars to take a gamble and make him captain of their franchise side despite no prior reasonable captaincy experience and a very young age. Even his own Father-in-Law, Shahid Afridi, advised him to steer clear of the captaincy fuss due to his inexperience in this area. But fortunately for LQ, the gamble paid off greatly and turned the erstwhile notorious chokers into serial winners with the privilege of being the only PSL side to win the tournament twice on trot. Amazingly, Shaheen Shah Afridi not only excelled in the role of captain but also improved immensely his own bowling prowess under the enormous pressure of captaincy.
Shaheen Afridi’s spectacular performance as a captain in the domestic arena coupled with the unexpected resignation of Babar Azam from captaincy paved the way for Shaheen to be appointed as the next T20 captain of Pakistan. And now as he has been officially entrusted with this responsibility, the expectations from him to excel in this role are sky high owing to his glorious recent captaincy record in the Pakistan Super League(PSL).
Challenges for Shaheen Afridi as a T20 captain:
Now let’s delve into the challenges that await Shaheen before his entrance into this new role. The first and foremost challenge for Shaheen Afridi would be to replicate his glorious form as captain from the PSL front into the International arena, otherwise he would not be viewed as a role model by other youngsters in the team and can also not lead by example.
Replacing dosti yaari XI with deserving XI
Another big challenge for Shaheen as a captain would be to dispel the impression of DOSTI YAARI (the like and dislike) culture within the Pakistan dressing room. This controversy has plagued team green for long in the recent times and also was responsible for some of the bad performances from the players due to the extra layer of pressure. Also promoting and accommodating the right set of competent and deserving players would not only promote the culture of meritocracy but would also significantly enhance the performance graph of the entire team. Another advantage of shunning this culture of favoritism would be that the players would remain alert and non complacent. And thus, will also remain focused on their immediate task of performing well for the team instead of pursuing personal milestones and individual goals that in the end, brings nothing but disaster for the team instead of glory.
Meeting and exceeding the high standard set by the former captain Babar Azam
Matters will not be easier and rosier for him as they are in franchise leagues as the competition on the international level of a much higher standard and challenging. In addition, the success criteria set by the former captain Babar Azam is exceedingly high to meet which in turn makes things even more difficult for young Shaheen. For instance, Babar has a winning percentage of almost 60% in T20 internationals and was able to make it to at least the Semi Finals of the T20 World Cup tournaments that he has been part of as a captain. So for even to be considered on par with Babar, as a captain Shaheen needs to make it to the Semi Final of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the Caribbean and USA. And mind you, to end up in the Semi Final of the T20 WC tournament 2021 was the worst ever captaincy performance by Babar Azam as the captain of the shorter format. So the standards set by his predecessor are tall if wants to make a name for himself among the all time great T20 captains.
Snubbing the commentators that call him pedestrian
The third Challenge for Shaheen will be to rediscover his coveted red-hot form that made him the mega star that he is today. Especially the rediscovering of the knack to rattle wickets early on in the innings particularly in his very first over would be something he will want to rediscover.
Another important battle for Shaheen Afridi would be to shut the mouth of his critics who have called him average, pedestrian and the most ‘cash in bowler’ who leaks run freely. With the added responsibility of captaincy on his shoulders now, it has now become evenly important for him to improve his bowling prowess significantly and snub the haughty commentators like Ravi Shastri, Irfan Pathan, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram etc who have taken made comments about his dip in performance and speed recently. Also, it is a mandatory and prerequisite requirement for any person entrusted with the role of captaincy to be a torch bearer for the whole side through his exceptional performance and with the raising of a lot of eyebrows of late regarding the slow pace of Shaheen’s deliveries it has become incumbent upon him to fix this issue on top priority by bringing his A-Game for the national side.
Managing the dressing room environment and the challenge of dealing with senior players
Another big challenge for Shaheen Afridi would be to manage and maintain a healthy and conducive dressing room environment that allow other players to express their talent and skills freely without getting under the skin of others and feeling insecure. The good thing for Shaheen here would be his invaluable past experience with the Lahore Qalandar’s franchise where he has managed many big names and egos like Rashid Khan, David Wiese, Sikandar Raza, Fakhar Zaman and Liam Dawson etc and that too successfully and despite being much junior to them in age. So, Shaheen could use his man management skills here to steer the ship well for the team in future.
Ending the T20 trophy drought for Pakistan
The fifth and another important challenge for Shaheen would be to get his team over the line. As in the past few years, they have fallen tantalizingly short of claiming the silverware glory in T20 WC tournaments. So for Shaheen as the new T20 captain, the biggest challenge would be to end the 15 year long World Cup trophy drought in the T20 format. As Shaheen was the one to end the 6 year long trophy drought for LQ that even the greats like Brendon Mccullum, Azhar Ali and no other LQ captain could do, so for many he would also be the special one for Pakistan to end their trophy drought in the T20 format later this year.
Incessant fear of removal from captaincy owing to strong potential captaincy alternatives
Another uphill task for Shaheen would be to retain his position as the captain. Unlike Babar Azam, he may not get a prolonged captaincy tenure due to strong potential captaincy alternatives in the current side. The biggest competitor for Shaheen Afridi would be non other than his own Vice-Captain wicket keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan who not only is a consistent performer for Pakistan but also is a much better captaincy option than Shaheen according to many experts owing to his vast domestic captaincy experience and great player management skills. Even Shaheen's own father-in-law Shahid Afridi recently in a private gathering has expressed his preference of Rizwan over Shaheen for the coveted captaincy position because of Rizwan's indifferent approach to the criticism of the critics and his great goal oriented approach. Also, to perform well as the T20 captain would be of doubly importance for Shaheen as the prospect of being a future ODI captain for Shaheen Afridi greatly hinges on his solid performance in the shorter T20 format. If Shaheen can achieve something really big with the T20 side then he can potentially emerge as the next white ball captain for team Pakistan, otherwise Rizwan or Shan Masood are in line to be named as the next ODI captain. So, besides a great stream of expectations, the incessant fear of being removed from captaincy would be another challenge for Shaheen to overcome in his upcoming captaincy stint.
Shaheen's exceptional captaincy record- A glimmer of hope for fans
Shaheen's own extraordinary record as captain is something to bank on for the Pakistan cricket fans. Shaheen Afridi has the best win/loss ratio among all the PSL captains ever. Another encouraging thing for PCT fans is the ostensible improvement in the performance of Shaheen both as a bowler and batter since his elevation to the captaincy post in PSL. For instance, before being anointed as captain, Shaheen's batting strike rate was a lowly 104.7 which soared to a whooping 165.4. Also, his batting average augmented by threefold from 7.7 to 22.1 runs per innings. So unlike majority of other players who crumble under the sheer pressure of captaincy, Shaheen has shined otherwise under his captaincy tenure. So, one could expect a wholesome performance from Shaheen Shah Afridi in his upcoming captaincy stint.
 |
Red
dot presents stats after captaincyGreen
represents stats before captaincyConclusion :
Shaheen Shah Afridi’s captaincy could be the missing piece of puzzle in the tournament-winning combination of Pakistan, but at the same time, this massive opportunity could also be deleterious for Shaheen, as in the past many captains have lost their form and good will owing to lackluster performances as captain. But bearing in mind the phenomenal record of Shaheen as captain for the Qalandars it would be safe to say that he had a good chance to excel Pakistan's cause. He has already proven many people wrong who were sceptical of his success as captain by managing to win trophies for proven chokers like Lahore so he really could bring success as captain to national side too. But still he won’t be reckoned as the special one unless he brings the coveted T20 World Cup trophy with him this year or anytime soon. The first ordeal of Shaheen starts on Friday in the series against New Zealand, let’s see how he performs there because the performance there would could foreshadow his success ahead.
Shaheen.
. Can he up the ante further by winning his first match as captain too? 
