Regarding Shaheen Afridi’s removal as T20 skipper after just one series, former Pakistan captain Moin Khan expressed his worries. Former World Cup winning team member Moin called the decision “unfair” and said Afridi should have had more opportunity to demonstrate his leadership.

“Removing Shaheen Afridi based on one T20 series is unjust,” Moin said.

“He was the greatest candidate to be the T20 captain because he can guide the team. Someone else might have been considered for ODIs, but it’s not proper to fire him after just one series. How can you expect him to perform well after being treated like this?”

The more general problem of having a single captain for all formats was also covered by Moin.

“A single captain for all three formats can work, but that player needs to perform consistently across all formats,” he stated. “The board should give the chosen captain enough time to settle into the role.” There has been conjecture that wicketkeeper-battler Mohammad Rizwan would be named white-ball captain, and that Test captain Shan Masood might possibly be given more leadership responsibilities.

Following Pakistan’s historic defeat to Bangladesh in the most recent home series—where Pakistan lost the Test match as well as the series for the first time ever on home soil—Shaheen’s leadership came under fire. Prior to the team’s defeat to Bangladesh in the opening Test, Pakistani skipper Shan Masood denied reports that he and fast bowler Shaheen Afridi had a quarrel in the dressing room.

In response to the rumours, Masood made it clear that he and Shaheen had no altercation. He clarified that there was a misinterpretation of a widely shared video that showed Afridi taking Masood’s hand off his shoulder.

Masood said that Afridi was having shoulder problems at the moment and that he had mistakenly misinterpreted Afridi’s hand placement as an offer of support.

Previous reports claimed that Masood and Afridi were at odds over the fast bowlers’ performance after Pakistan’s historic 10-wicket loss against Bangladesh.