ICC World Cup 2019 | Shahid Afridi reacts to Junaid Khan’s tape protest
Shahid Afridi revealed that what former Pakistan teammate Junaid Khan did was not right but empathised with the latter by claiming that he would have done the same if he was in the bowler's place. This came after PCB selectors decided to replace Junaid and Abid Ali with Asif Ali and Mohammad Amir.
Pakistan pacer Junaid Khan caused quite a stir after he uploaded a controversial picture of himself with his mouth covered by black tape a few weeks ago. Khan did so in protest of PCB’s decision to overlook him for the Pakistan 15-man squad that will participate in the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019 which starts on May 30.
Initially, Khan was included in Pakistan’s provisional ICC World Cup 2019 squad ahead of Mohammad Amir and it seemed certain that the 29-year-old fast bowler would be on board the plane to England. However, PCB selectors opted to drop Abid Ali and Junaid Khan and called up Asif Ali and Mohammad Amir as their replacements.
Former Pakistan captain, Shahid Afridi, gave his opinion on Khan’s controversial reaction as the former empathised with the Pakistan pacer. Afridi admitted that what the 28-year old did was not right but added that he would have done the same if he was in Khan’s shoes.
“In my opinion, what Junaid did was not right, there was no need to do that you can protest while remaining silent as well.
“But probably I would have done the same if I was at his place. He has a lot of cricket left in him. Obviously, he was disappointed since this would have been his first World Cup and I think management should have handled it in a better way,” Afridi told reporters.