Denying rumours of groupism within the Pakistan camp, former captain Shahid Afridi labelled newer fans on social media as having “born during Covid times”. After Pakistan’s early exit from the 2024 T20 World Cup, reports of the dressing room being divided into three groups has been rife. However, Afridi dismissed such claims. He blamed it on poor performances and poor captaincy, and rubbished conspiracies about groups within the team. In particular, Afridi was highly critical about Babar Azam‘s captaincy as the main reason.
Appearing on Samaa TV, a Pakistani news channel, Afridi said, “No group exists within the team. There never has been any. 2019, 20, 21, 22, 23, we never spoke about groups. Only now are groups coming?”
“If groups are being formed, that is a clear sign of weak leadership,” he said. “Only when performances are bad, that’s when the groups can be seen,” he added.
Afridi did not shy away from blaming fans on social media in believing and spreading rumours about groupism.
“This is the age of social media. All the kids born in the Covid era have no idea about things. They only know how to use phones, they are not educated (about cricket),” blasted Afridi.
“We’re simply not playing good enough cricket. Our batsmen and bowlers are not performing well,” said Afridi.
Pakistan have endured a dismal 2024 T20 World Cup campaign, losing their first two matches to co-hosts USA and then India. The abandonment of USA’s game against Ireland confirmed Pakistan’s group stage exit, as they can now neither match India nor USA’s points tally.
Criticism has come from several stalwarts of Pakistan cricket, from Wasim Akram to Shoaib Akhtar. Babar Azam’s batting and captaincy has been heavily criticised.
Pakistan face Ireland in their final Group A game on Sunday, June 16, in what will be a final chance for them to get some pride back.
