Babar Azam, Rizwan left speechless at reporter's stinging question, Shaheen Afridi jumps to take onus on himself

Pakistan’s top-order stars Babar Azam and captain Mohammad Rizwan were left speechless during a pre-season press conference ahead of the 10th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) when confronted with a direct question on the team's inability to chase targets exceeding 200 in T20 cricket. The question was initially directed to Babar, who failed to respond. Eventually, pacer Shaheen Afridi offered an explanation, speaking on behalf of the players present in the press conference.

With the country’s morale dented following a string of poor results, a journalist asked Babar to explain why Pakistan seemed to lose direction while chasing big totals. “Babar, can you please answer?” the reporter asked after highlighting Pakistan’s repeated failures and questioning whether the issue lay in mindset or intent.

Babar, clearly caught off guard, passed the question to white-ball skipper Rizwan, who, too, refrained from responding. Just when the silence was becoming deafening, Shaheen Afridi took the mic and delivered a balanced, team-first perspective.

“It's our team, it's Pakistan's team,” Afridi began.

“See, you are talking about chasing 200. Honestly, it's not just about the batters, it's also the bowlers' responsibility not to concede 200 runs. If you see, the pitches are good for batting. Even if we conceded 200 or more, we should do our best to chase it down. Similarly, it's our job to defend such totals as well. We are a team. We are a family. If the performances have not been good of late, it's our job to get Pakistan cricket back to the top.”

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Shaheen’s words came at a time when Pakistan cricket has been under heavy scrutiny. After crashing out in the group stage of the home Champions Trophy – suffering back-to-back defeats against India and New Zealand – the PCB has moved to rebuild with an eye on the 2026 T20 World Cup and 2027 ODI World Cup.

But the transition has been anything but smooth. A subsequent tour of New Zealand saw the T20I side, featuring a mix of experienced players and newcomers, fall to a 4-1 defeat. When Rizwan and Babar returned for the ODI leg, expectations rose, but the team was whitewashed 3-0 by a dominant Kiwi unit.