Pakistan lost the Test series against England in harsh fashion, 0-3 at home. With their new kind of attacking cricket, the tourists completely destroyed Babar Azam and company. In the first match of the series, the tourists barely defeated Pakistan by 74 runs on a lifeless Rawalpindi ground. They then overcame Pakistan by 24 runs in the second Test in Multan, and on Tuesday, they easily trounced Pakistan by eight wickets in the series finale in Karachi.
Pakistan’s chances of winning the World Test Championship (WTC) were severely hurt by the defeat. With three losses to England and the fourth coming in the preceding series against Australia, Pakistan had lost four straight tests at home. Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, was spot-on with the bat, scoring 348 runs from six innings, including 103 fifty-runs. But after the disappointing outcome, his captaincy came under scrutiny once more. Shaheen Shah Afridi, a pacer on his squad, spoke out in defence of the captain despite the criticism.
Shaheen published a lengthy tweet in which he praised Babar and pleaded with followers to treat him with respect. The speedster stated that the story is still not finished while pleading with the supporters to continue their support.
Babar Azam hamari or Pakistan ki Shan, jaan or pehchan hai. Wo Hamara kaptaan hai or rahe ga. Kuch or #sochnabhimanah hai.
Please support this team. Yahi team hame jitaye gi bhi. Kahani abhi Khatam nahi howi. #Respect pic.twitter.com/WyjW98pJuA
— Shaheen Shah Afridi (@iShaheenAfridi) December 20, 2022
Pakistan is currently ranked eighth in the WTC standings. On the nine-team table, Australia is in first place, followed by India, while England is fifth. In the second edition of the two-match home series, which begins on December 26 in Karachi, Pakistan will take on New Zealand.
Shaheen, meanwhile, will sit out for at least a few months as he continues to recover from his knee injury. Prior to the Asia Cup 2022, the pacer had a knee injury and was forced to miss the entire competition, which saw Pakistan place second. He later returned to action during the T20 World Cup, but was unable to continue after the competition because of an aggravation of his condition.