'You need to....': Shahid Afridi reacts to Gautam Gambhir's 'selfish' remark on Pakistan captain Babar Azam

During Pakistan's Netherlands face-off in the T20 World Cup 2022 edition, in Perth on October 30, former Indian opener-turned-commentator Gautam Gambhir made heads turn with his remark on Babar Azam. The Pakistan captain has been slammed left, right and centre following the Men in Green's dismal run so far in the competition.

When the one-time winners' playing XI didn't feature Fakhar Zaman, who is battling injury concerns in the run-up to the T20 WC, Babar was heavily criticised. Even when Fakhar was roped in for the clash versus the Dutch line-up, he batted at No. 3 whereas Pakistan continued to open with Babar and Md Rizwan, who have been criticised for their slow starts.

Thus, Gambhir slammed Babar and said during commentary of the Pakistan-Netherlands face-off, “In my opinion, first, you think about your team instead of yourself; if nothing goes according to your plan, you should have sent Fakhar Zaman up the batting order. This is called selfishness; as a captain, it is easy to be selfish."

Now, Gambhir's arch-rival Shahid Afridi has joined in and reacted to the former Indian opener's comments.

"Tournament ke baad koshish karenge Babar ko bole ki unke baare mein bhi kuchh bole kyuki wo bhi toh ghar jayenge na.(After the end of the T20 WC, we’ll try and tell Babar to say something about him (Gambhir). After all, he will head straight back home to India too),” Afridi said on Pakistani channel Samaa TV.

Afridi criticised Gambhir for his usage of words and further opined, "There is always criticism, but you need to be very careful with words. You should use words that should come as advice for the player, and you can make the people understand it as well. As far as Babar is concerned, he has given so many match-winning performances. The consistency with which he has scored, very few Pakistan batters have. He may not have risen to the expectations which is why he is facing some flak."

It will be interesting to see if Gambhir reacts to Afridi's comments. Babar-led Pakistan will play South Africa in a crucial Super 12 clash on Thursday (November 03) in Sydney.