Shahid Afridi recently made an explosive comment as the interim Chief Selector of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The cricketer, who captained Pakistan to the T20 World Cup in 2009, declared that no batsman would be considered for the shortest version of cricket unless he had a strike rate of at least 135 in domestic cricket.
Pakistan fans do not go short. In the wake of Afridi’s sarcastic comments, many took to social media Twitter to send captain Babar Azam and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan to early retirement. It’s just for fun though. Indian media Hindustan Times said this in a report.
However, Pakistan captain Babar Azam has scored 3,355 runs at a strike rate of 127.8 in 99 international T20 matches so far. On the other hand, opener and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, who has played 80 matches in the national team jersey in the shortest version of cricket, has scored 2,635 runs at a strike rate of 126.6.
A user on Twitter said, “Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan will not survive then. But we have seen Shahid Afridi and his comments over the years, right? How many times he has come back from retirement is beyond count. So there is a reverse comment coming.”
Another user said, “In a nutshell, according to Afridi’s model, being a random power hitter is enough to get a chance in the T20 team. Apart from Shadab, none of our current players have a strike rate above 135. His (Shadab) strike rate is 142. Among the rest, Babar-Rizwan’s strike rate is 126 and 127 respectively.
Another user said, “Chamak Chamak- said in an interview to Geo News that anyone whose strike rate is below 135 will not be considered for T20. However, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan’s T20 cricket career is over.