On Shaheen Afridi-Babar Azam Rift Speculation, Pakistan Cricket Team Manager Says "The Ones Ruining..."

Pakistan men's national team manager Wahab Riaz has rubbished the rumours of rift between star players Shaheen Shah Afridi and Babar Azam after the latter was handed back the T20I captaincy following the pacer's brief stint as skipper during T20I series in New Zealand back in January. Shaheen was given the T20I leadership following Pakistan's underwhelming performance in the ICC Cricket World Cup held in India back last year, in which they finished fifth after winning just four matches out of nine. This appointment was made keeping in mind the ICC T20 World Cup, starting this year from June 1 in the West Indies/USA.

But during his first assignment as captain, Shaheen suffered a 1-4 loss to the Kiwis away from home. A disastrous bottom-place finish in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) with Lahore Qalandars following two title wins in 2022, and 2023 raised questions over Shaheen's leadership and he was removed in favour of Babar.

Amidst all the chaos around the leadership, there were media reports of Shaheen being unhappy about the unceremonious manner of his removal from captaincy. The reports gained even more fire because of some cryptic social media posts by Shaheen.

However, after the announcement of the squad for the T20I series against New Zealand starting from April 18 at home, Riaz clarified that all the rumours around Shaheen and Babar are not true.

"There is so much speculation (in Pakistan)... we really are the ones ruining our environment. Until things were not clear, media and social media were so active that it felt if we had not gone to Kakul (fitness camp), they might have just hit each other," said Riaz as quoted by Wisden.

"When we actually went, we saw an atmosphere as friendly as we could have seen. The