
Pakistan announced a 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup on Thursday (September 15). With the mega event set to be held in Australia from next month, Babar Azam & Co. have named a strong squad including Shaheen Afridi. The premier pacer suffered a knee injury during the Sri Lanka Test series and was ruled out of the Asia Cup 2022 edition, where the Men in Green lost the final to Sri Lanka.
Shaheen was present with the Pakistan team and even cheered for them in the stands during their opening clash in the continental tournament, versus arch-rivals India. From there on, he left for London for his rehabilitation programme. Shahid Afridi, Shaheen's future father-in-law, has now made a big claim that the speedster is funding his London stay and hasn't been helped by the Ramiz Raja-led Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Giving insights into the whole situation, Afridi, in an interview with Samma TV, revealed, "When I talk about Shaheen.. that guy went to England on his own. He bought his own ticket; he spent his own money to stay in a hotel. I arranged a doctor for him, then he contacted the doctor. PCB is not doing anything; he is doing that on his own."
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"Everything, from coordination to doctors to his hotel room and food expenses, he is paying out of his own pocket. As far as I know, Zakir Khan talked to him 1-2 times, but that was it," the ex-Pakistan captain further added.
Zakir is currently the Director of Cricket for international tours at the PCB. The board, however, rubbished all claims made by Shahid Afridi and shared a statement saying, "The PCB is also pleased to advise and update that Shaheen Shah Afridi is making excellent progress in his rehabilitation in London and is on track to make a full recovery in time for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Australia 2022.
"It goes without saying that the PCB has always been and will continue to be responsible for arranging medical care and rehabilitation of all its players requiring any treatment."