Shahid Afridi (The Interim Chief Selector) Of Pakistan Sets New Criteria For Selection In T20Is

Shahid Afridi (The Interim Chief Selector) Of Pakistan Sets New Criteria For Selection In T20Is:

The interim chief selector of the Pakistani cricket team has set new criteria for selection in T20Is.

Talking to the media, the former Captain of the Pakistan cricket team and ongoing interim chief selector of Pakistan, made it clear that the selection committee will only select those players for the T20Is, who have a strike rate of 135 or above.

Afridi said:

“No batter in T20 will be selected for Pakistan who will not have a strike rate of more than 135 in domestic cricket”

In the last few months, the strike rate of Pakistani batters was criticized a lot. There were serious discussions among the cricket fraternity regarding the strike rates of Pakistani batters.

Captain of Pakistan Babar Azam also came under hammer multiple times because of this debate. His opening partner in T20Is, Muhammad Rizwan, was also criticized for his approach to T20I cricket.

The Other Side Of Story:

But this debate is not as simple as it looks. Our cricketers can’t adopt the aggressive mindset of batting overnight. Other factors should be considered before criticizing our batters. One of these major factors that don’t give our batters the freedom to play aggressively is social media and our sports journalists.

Whenever our batters get out playing aggressive shots, they are criticized unnecessarily or kicked out of the team after a few matches due to a lack of consistency in their performance.

On the other hand, if you look at the current Pakistani T20I team, only Shadab Khan has a strike rate of over 135. Even our prime striker of the ball, Asif Ali has a strike rate of less than 135.

The Question Comes Up Here:

So according to the statement given by Pakistan’s interim chief selector, is every member of the current Pakistan T20I team going to be kicked out of the team including Babar Azam?

Well, Pakistan must change its approach to T20I cricket but PCB also has a job to take all the members of the Pakistan team into confidence that the PCB will support them in any situation. Players should be given the freedom to play fearless cricket without the fear of being kicked out of the team after a few bad performances.