Former Pakistan pacer Aqib Javed recalls how he was almost lynched after returning from India and how the fans tried to burn his house down and says Babar Azam should step down as captain and Shaheen Shah Afridi must replace him.
“Now, we can’t even criticize this team after their poor display in the World Cup. They are lucky. After 1996 World Cup what happened with me was a horrible experience. We were scared when we left India,” Aqib Javed said on SUNO NEWS.
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“At the airport even security people were not there to help us out. We were not sure how we would reach home. Stones were pelted at my house, mob tried to burn my house down. I was hit with eggs and tomatoes on the head,” recalled Javed.
Aqib, who has played 22 Tests and 163 ODIs for Pakistan and was member of the 1992 World Cup winning team recalled how mob tried to lynch him at the airport in Pakistan.
“Our bus stopped. I stepped out of it and, I saw people running towards me. The bus driver started the bus. I was stranding there with by bag and started running. Suddenly, a Jeep came, four people pushed me inside and I thought I am dead. Luckily, It was my cousin, who was in police, he came there to rescue me,” said Javed.
“In comparison to us, no one has done anything to this team. People are saying we criticize a lot. It’s nothing. We create a false hope before every big tournament but deep down we know that this team will finish fifth or sixth. They have proved this in the past three World Cups,” he said.
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Javed also slammed captain Babar Azam and said he should be sacked and replace with Shaheen Shah Afridi, who has guided Lahore Qalandars to back-to-back Pakistan Super League (PSL) title.
“They are saying ‘oh don’t say anything to Babar’. If he is a good captain, has he won anything at any level.
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“You can’t make a captain. It’s either he is a captain or he is not. Virat Kohli was captain for so long, but has he won anything?
“Why Rohit Sharma is a good captain because he has won five titles in the IPL. Kohli has done nothing in the IPL nor with the national team. Same is with Babar, he has not won a single trophy in PSL nor with the senior team.
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“Sarfaraz won the U-19 World Cup in 2006, and then Champions League in 2017. he led Quetta to the tile in the PSL. Has Babar at any stage has shown any glimpse of a good captain. Shaheen has won two titles in the PSL. We have picked the entire team from the PSL but not the captain. We must change the captain and Babar must realise has he done justice to the captaincy,” he said.
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