Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi and opener Ahmed Shehzad had a rather strong conversation as they discussed the latter's absence from the national team on national channel. During the show, Shahid Afridi said that Shehzad is targeted because he supported him a lot during his tenure as skipper. Ahmed Shehzad said that he has been denied opportunities to play.Ahmed Shehzad last played a T20I for Pakistan long back in 2019. Last month, he criticized the Pakistan cricket board for denying him opportunities, and targeted management, coaching staff and former coaches for ‘spoiling and hurting’ his career. To this, PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja termed Ahmed Shehzad’s comments as ‘pure frustration. “Ahmed was targeted because of me because I supported him a lot. I gave him a lot of chances, which turned out to be a negative thing for him when I left captaincy. I think people thought he was my favourite. I supported him a lot because I wasn’t finding an opener of his ability in Pakistan. He was performing as well. Obviously, he couldn’t perform in all games but he was targeted because of me as well,” Afridi said.
Ahmed Shehzad was a little surprised at Afridi’s words and said that he don’t know why he said that.“Shahid Bhai, listen. I don’t know why you said that. You’ve been an elder brother to me, you can say anything to me. Sometimes, it does hurt me, but you have always been an elder brother to me,” the opening batter said.Afridi then interrupted Shehzad by saying that he wants to see Shehzad scoring runs for the national team. To this, Shehzad replied that he should be at least given opportunities to play.“I want you to score runs, enjoy your life with your wife and kids. Allah has made life beautiful for you”, Afridi said. “I keep saying that. I want to score runs, but at least don’t deny me the platforms where I can score. I will ask you, when sides in PSL want to pick me, who comes in and says no? You tell me, where do I score runs? At my home?”, Ahmed Shehzad replied.Ahmed Shehzad played a lot of matches under former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi. In 81 ODIs and 59 T20Is for Pakistan, Shehzad has scored 2605 runs in ODIs at an average of 32.56 and 1474 runs in T20Is at an average of 25.81. In 13 Tests, the former Pakistan opener accounts for 982 runs at an average of 40.92.
