"Those Elements Aren't Present...": Babar Azam Breaks Silence On Rift With Shaheen Afridi

Pakistan's reinstated skipper Babar Azam finally addressed the elephant in the room and opened up on the recent captaincy controversy, where he was reappointed as captain, replacing Shaheen Shah Afridi. Questions were raised over Afridi's leadership with his led side suffering a 1-4 loss to New Zealand away from home during his first captaincy assignment. Among the commotion surrounding the leadership, there were media reports that Shaheen was dissatisfied with the abrupt manner in which he was removed from captaincy. Shaheen's enigmatic social media statements added fuel to the reports.

Despite everything that has happened in recent weeks, Pakistan's white-ball captain Azam stated that he and Afridi still have a good connection. Despite the turbulent nature of the captaincy changeover, it appears like the relationship between Pakistan's two most prominent cricketers is holding together for the time being.

Speaking at a news conference ahead of the first T20I match against New Zealand, Babar reiterated that all players support one another in all situations.

"I want to make clear that Shaheen [Afridi] and my bond is not recent, it goes back a long way. We support each other in every situation. Our aim is to put Pakistan first, and how to put Pakistan's name up in lights. We don't think of individual glory, and thankfully, those elements are not present in my team," Babar said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

He did imply that Pakistan would experiment throughout the five games, with an eye on the T20 World Cup and focusing all of their training on that.

"Our line-up is flexible. We're trying to give opportunities to our young players and bench strength. You'll see different combinations in this series and check what works for