Shaheen Shah Afridi rates Mohammad Rizwan as a better captain than Babar Azam

Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi reckoned that Mohammad Rizwan is a better captain than Babar Azam, who’s currently the national skipper across all three formats. The 29-year-old Rizwan hasn’t led the Men in Green, but has tasted some success in domestic cricket.

In 2021, he led Multan Sultans to their maiden Pakistan Super League title after replacing Shan Masood as their skipper. Afridi, who has recently been appointed as the skipper of Lahore Qalandars for the PSL 2022, lauded Rizwan and talked about playing alongside him for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

I would rate him as the best, says Shaheen Shah Afridi

“I like [Mohammad] Rizwan’s personality. I started playing domestic competition with him from KPK’s side and I would rate him as the best. Since Babar has done a fantastic job with the national team, I will rank him second,” Afridi was quoted as saying in Cricket Pakistan.

The 21-year-old Afridi also had words of praises for Babar and termed him his “favourite” and “number one batter” at the highest level.

“Babar Azam is my favourite batsman and he is the number one batter as well. He has done fantastically well as a captain for the national team and we are reaching new heights under him,” he added.

Apart from scoring heaps of runs for Pakistan, Azam has also showed his class in the PSL. Currently a part of the Karachi Kings where he plays under all-rounder Imad Wasim, the youngster has notched 2070 runs at an average of 43.12 and a strike rate of 121.55. Although he has six ducks to his name, Azam has made up for the same with 21 half-centuries and a top score of an unbeaten 90.

Recently, Babar led Pakistan to 11 victories in their last 12 T20Is since the T20 World Cup 2021. Moreover, he has scored 1779 T20 runs in the calendar year, second behind Rizwan, who amassed 2036 runs.

As far as Afridi is concerned, having earlier played under Sohail Akhtar in the Qalandars, he has a massive task at hand as the team is yet to win the PSL. The speedster has 50 wickets to his name from 37 matches at an economy rate of 7.65.