'Did Afridi not ask Babar Azam before doing that?': Pakistan veteran slams Pakistan duo after huge Shan Masood remark

The former Pakistan star criticised Babar Azam for his comments on Shan Masood and further spoke about the relationship between the Pakistan skipper and Shahid Afridi.

Babar Azam attended the press conference ahead of Pakistan's 1st ODI of the series against New Zealand on Sunday. The side's skipper spoke in detail about Pakistan's recent outings in the longest format of the game as the side played out a 0-0 Test series draw against the Kiwis; Babar is facing growing criticism over his captaincy after the side failed to win a single Test at home in the 2021-23 World Test Championship cycle.

Babar Azam; Shahid Afridi (AP)

During the press conference, Babar was also asked about Shan Masood who has recently been named as the vice-captain in the ODI squad for the series against New Zealand. However, the Pakistan captain raised doubts on Shan's place in the XI itself.

“We can’t talk about any individual at the moment, whether he’s vice-captain or X, Y, Z,” Babar said on Sunday. “We will try to field our best playing XI and try to win the series,” he said further.

“It's not a good statement. It's actually very weird that you made him the vice-captain of the team… did Shahid Afridi not ask Babar before making Shan the vice-captain? He should've asked. Now Babar is saying he doesn't know whether he is in the team or not. It's not a good thing,” Bakht said on Geo Super.

“I'll request Shahid Afridi and the board to talk to Babar, not create a political scenario here. Talk and then take a decision. We are all Pakistanis, we will support every player,” he said further.

The 33-year-old left-handed batter Masood was made vice-captain in place of Mohammad Rizwan, the only wicketkeeper in the 16-man squad for the three ODIs.

Masood hasn’t played an ODI since 2019 when all five of his matches were against Australia in the United Arab Emirates. He scored 111 runs at an average of 22.20.