Captaincy drama doesn’t bother Afridi

E-Paper | March 10, 2026

“I am a senior professional and I know what I have to do. I have to lead the team to win the series and perform well as player,” said Afridi. —Photo by AFP

KARACHI: Shahid Afridi on Tuesday said he was not worried over not being named Pakistan captain because it was a job he had never coveted.

The 30-year-old all-rounder is tipped to lead the team in next month’s World Cup, to be jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

But when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the 15-man squad on Tuesday, no captain was named, leading to speculation Pakistan’s Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq may take the honours.

“I am not worried about the captaincy, it never worries me,” Afridi told reporters before leaving for New Zealand, where a six-match one day series starts in Wellington on January 22.

The Test team is already in New Zealand.

Afridi said being named to play for his country was the most important thing.

“I have never run after captaincy in my entire career. It is something for the cricket board to decide

“If they feel I am the right man they will appoint me and if they don’t they will make someone else captain,” said Afridi, whose position looked precarious after the team’s 2-1 defeat in the Twenty20 series in New Zealand last month.

Afridi, 30, said he did not feel under any undue pressure.

“I am a senior professional and I know what I have to do. I have to lead the team to win the series and perform well as player,” said Afridi.

“I know our winning the series will be very important because if we win in New Zealand it will give us a boost for the World Cup,” said Afridi.

Pakistan is placed in Group A of the 14-team World Cup, to be played from February 19 to April 2.

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shawn. USA

Jan 19, 2011 05:49am

Laughable matter. How in the world an unpridictable, tempramentle player can lead . He should not be the captain to begin with, Abdul Razaq was a better choice. or Misbah seems like a leader...........to ignore naveed is not a very good idea.

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Haris

Jan 19, 2011 01:44pm

He maybe unpredictable, yes. But don't forget that hes leading the team in pakistan cricket's most troubled times. He gels the team well, infuses in them team spirit and unity. Abdul Razzaq is a wonderful player, a true match winner by all accounts, but everyone agrees hes not a leader, hes incapable of leading. That leaves Misbah, well lets not forget he was at the helm of all the grouping against younis khan and moreover he does not justify his place in the ODI playing XI. And you mention ignoring 'naveed', do you mean rana naveed? If you think he was captaincy material or even deserves a chance in pakistan current set up, then I must say that you know too little about cricket my friend.

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nazir ahmad

Jan 19, 2011 02:48pm

Afridi is a good choice for captaincy.He is young,aggressive,talented,a natural leader and not involved in any controversy.Misbah no doubt won the series for pakistan 1-0 which could well have been 2-0 had he been aggressive.Moreover test and oneday is a diifferent ball game.Iwonder when things look good,pakistan cricket board as always in excitment spoils the show

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akhatar hayat

Jan 19, 2011 03:20pm

As it is the policy of PCB to be unpridictable therefore Afridi is also not sure whether he will be made the capain of the green team. But lets avhope for the best.but one thing is clear that cricket is now a more professional game in the world so pakistani team which is under pressure domesticaly and internationaly have to do alot of hard work.

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Inam Ali

Jan 19, 2011 03:40pm

" Captaincy drama doesn’t bother Afridi" but the question is in his mind i bet, who doesn't want to lead his team playing for his country? this is opportunity and thrill of life time, i'm sure Afridi will be dissappointed if not made the captain. I agree his is a loose cannon but he can sure fire at any time! thats why he is world famous Boom Boom Afridi other countries really do get nervous when afridi is round because he can turn games round in matter of few overs! Go on Pakistan make us proud. Inam from London.

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Syed Talha Hashmi

Jan 19, 2011 11:15pm

Afridi is a better captain then Misbah . Misbah is a new captain on his first captaincy we can not make him captain for world cup.

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Saiful Ansari

Jan 20, 2011 12:32am

The idea of announcing a team for the World Cup without a captain is as ridiculous as publishing a book without naming its author. PCB should explain the reasons for keeping the matter of Captaincy in limbo, open to all forms of speculations and conjecture. Why put the team, coaches, fans and the followers of cricket in suspense? To what purpose does this policy serve? It is not a question of who should take the helm of the team. The best person should appointed for the job at the soonest to quell any unnecessary murmur on this subject.

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Saiful Ansari

Jan 20, 2011 12:45am

I must add that Pakistan is not a strong contender for the World Cup. Our pace attack without Amir is at best laborious. It lacks sting. The spin options are thin. Openers are at best inconsistent. The fielding is poor. Both Afridi & Razzak may be the best in business but only on their day. To win a World Cup against teams like India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia and England will take more than Afridi & Razzak. So it hardly matters, who leads the team. What matters is if all the members of the team perform to their best potential, with firm belief in their ability to beat the best in the business.

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salman

Jan 20, 2011 02:22am

The gossip that PCB is not happy with Afridi,s out spoken behaviour is not something that you change the capt. After all capts of the teams have to interact with the press at some piont. PCB should be ashamed off its incompetency by airing that players are not happy with Afridi,thus creating a hiatus of factionalism, which may further destabilise the team just before a major event. He should have been supported and given cofidence to perform well in the WC instead.

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Adnan Rao

Jan 20, 2011 03:19am

It doesn't matter who's the captain i'm glad we've won the test series that was highly overwhelming . The Pakistani cricket team is very unpredictable , we can go from top notch results to beginners play . I just hope we get in shape right before the World Cup begins . It's high time we bag that title since the team has the potential and individuals to play their role .

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Mubashar

Jan 20, 2011 03:50am

misbah was never at the helm of any grouping, what are you on about?!?

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asad waqas

Jan 20, 2011 10:03pm

nice

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Noman

Jan 21, 2011 11:23am

Rana Naved admitted under-performing on purpose to make things harder for the captain at the time. This was part of his testimony to PCB. He should never ever play for Pakistan again. Spot fixing is one thing (bad enough to land a few years ban, without actually affecting the match outcome), but under-performing so the team you are playing for can lose has to be the worst possible thing a sportsman can do. He shouldn't even be playing domestic cricket.

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sameen tahir khan

Jan 21, 2011 12:46pm

I think Afridi is a lousy captain. Even at 30 he has not matured as a player, which means he never will. He is aggressive only foolishly. His field placements, bowling changes was all very poor. He just does not have the intelligence that is required of a captain. He is a talented bowler and a sometimes talented batsman. I think Yunus Khan should be retained as captain. Misbah I think is not consistent in one dayers. thank you

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Optimist

Jan 22, 2011 04:17am

Shaid Afridi will be the player of the world cup. He should himself withdraw from captaincy, but Misbah is not a dynamic leader. Judging from the win against a fragile New Zeland cannot automatically make him the captain for such a major event. The tried and tested is Younus Khan. The team selection lacks imagination. Hafeez is at best an average player with no big match temprament, while Shafiq and Shahzad are too imature. They should have selected Yousuf, Alam and Imran Nazir, they have big match temprament and can swing the match single handed.

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