Today there is a New Zealand vs Pakistan match in the T20 World Cup, which will be played at R Premadasa Stadium from 7 pm. Before this Super-8 match, Shahid Afridi insisted that Babar Azam should open. Regarding Saim Ayub, he said that he has not been able to perform while opening for a long time. Afridi got angry at his team and even said that if you had already thought that you have to play Babar at number four, then you have gone to play in the tournament only after losing to Pakistan.
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said these things on a show on Sama TV. His video is also going viral. Afridi said, “It is okay that Aaqib Javed etc. have made a team for you. I do not blame any one person. But I understand that you field your team after seeing the opposition team, seeing the pitch, seeing the situation, but if you had thought while sitting in Pakistan that Babar Azam will play at number four, then it means that you have lost to Pakistan itself.”
Afridi further said, “If we look at the last 40-50 matches of Saim Ayub, he hardly performed in 2-4 or 5 matches. So it should have been in our mind that if this boy is not performing consistently then we will use Babar Azam there. You should think that Ayub is not performing, which is necessary for the team and we have backup behind. We have Babar Azam as a senior player. Babar Azam is not the number four batsman, if you go to Pakistan thinking this then you have lost.”
I honestly didn’t expect Shahid Afridi to make such a strong statement in Babar Azam’s favour, but I was genuinely surprised to see him so passionately pushing for Babar to open, even putting pressure on the coach and captain. pic.twitter.com/dKtxK2PZ6s
— floki (@Unfeel34) February 21, 2026
Shahid Afridi said that if Saim Ayub is not performing in 2-3 matches in T20 World Cup 2026, then you should have got Babar Azam to open. Let us tell you that Pakistan has reached Super-8, its first match in this group is with New Zealand today. Next they have to play with England and Sri Lanka.
How is Ayub’s performance in T20 World Cup 2026?
Saim Ayub, who scored 24 runs against Netherlands, scored 19 runs against USA. He was out after scoring 6 runs against India and was able to score only 14 runs against Namibia. No big innings have come from his bat yet.
