The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday named star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi as their vice-captain of the national Test team ahead of the series against Australia. Afridi, who has represented Pakistan in all three formats of cricket, has played 27 Tests, 53 ODIs, and 52 T20Is. He will be the deputy to Shan Masood, who was named Pakistan's Test captain in November. Following Pakistan's disastrous performance in last month's World Cup, where the green shirts under his leadership failed to qualify for the semifinal stages, Azam decided to step down from captaincy in all formats of the game.
"Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi has been appointed vice-captain of the Pakistan Test Team for the series against Australia," the PCB said in a statement. "Earlier, Shaheen was also appointed captain of the Pakistan Men's T20 Cricket Team.". He also captains the Lahore Qalandars in the PSL. Under his leadership, Lahore Qalandars won their first PSL title in the 2022 season and again went on to win the 2023 season, becoming the first team in PSL history to successfully defend their title. He is the first Pakistani to win the Garfield Sobers trophy. In January 2022, Afridi was named the Cricketer of the Year by the International Cricket Council. He took 78 wickets in 36 international matches in 2021 In October 2023, he took a 5 wicket haul against Australia in the 2023 Cricket World Cup match. On 31 October, he became the fastest Pakistani bowler to get 100 wickets in ODI's. He achieved the feat in 51 matches, overtaking Saqlain Mushtaq, who took 53 matches to complete 100 wickets. On 15 November 2023, Afridi was appointed as T20I captain after Babar Azam resigned from the captaincy.
