Wahab Riaz, selector and team manager of the Pakistan men’s national team, has vehemently dismissed rumours of rifts between former and current captains Shaheen Afridi and Babar Azam.

Babar Azam will resume captaincy duties for Pakistan during the five-match T20I series against New Zealand after Shaheen Afridi’s brief stint as T20I captain came to an end recently.

Shaheen was appointed T20I captain after Babar resigned following Pakistan’s 2023 ODI World Cup exit. However, a 1-4 defeat in New Zealand followed by a dismal PSL 2024 campaign meant Shaheen was removed and Babar was reinstated as the skipper.

Amidst this chaos, there were several reports of Shaheen being unhappy with the unceremonious manner of his exit, reports which were fuelled by some of his cryptic social media posts. This led to widespread rumours of things not being the best between him and Babar, the new captain.

However, following the announcement of the squad for the New Zealand T20Is, Pakistan selector and senior team manager Wahab Riaz cleared the air around the matter. He said the speculation around the relationship between Babar and Shaheen has been too much but the reality is quite different.

“There is so much speculation [in Pakistan]… we really are the ones ruining our own environment,” Wahab said. “Until things weren’t clear, media and social media was so active that it felt if we hadn’t gone to Kakul [fitness camp], they might have just hit each other.

When we actually went, we saw an atmosphere as friendly as we could have seen. The boys were united. After their training and iftar, they would head to the snooker room or watch TV together. It was a really good atmosphere.

Wahab urged the media to not spread baseless rumours and gave Pakistan fans confidence that the players are as united as ever. “We need to confirm the truth behind such news before breaking it,” he said.

“These are Pakistan players who want to represent their country, and that’s their collective goal, and they are united because of that, and will be. The players you talk about will win Pakistan games in the future.”

Wahab also criticised former PCB chief Ramiz Raja for his comments against Mohammad Amir. Raja had said that he would have disowned Amir if he happened to be his son, referring to Amir’s match fixing antics. Wahab defended the left-arm seamer, who has made a comeback to the national side after four years, and called Raja’s comments “harsh”.

“Ramiz Raja saab‘s comment on Mohammad Amir is very harsh. I don’t believe that he deserves that because it was a very negative comment,” Wahab said.

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