“He wasn’t…”: Shan Masood breaks silence on rumours of rift with Shaheen Afridi

Pakistan cricket is not having a good time, be it on or off the field. After suffering a humiliating 2-0 defeat at the hands of Bangladesh in the recently concluded Test series, there were rumours of a rift within the team. After the first Test, a video involving Pakistan captain Shan Masood and star pacer Shaheen Afridi went viral on social media and the internet speculated that all was not well between the two. In the video, Shan was standing next to Shaheen during the team’s hurdles when the latter removed Shan’s hands from his shoulders. After Pakistan’s series loss to Bangladesh, Masood has clarified the incident.

When Masood was asked about rumours that he would resign from the role of Pakistan Test captain after the defeat to Bangladesh, he said, “No, there is nothing like that.”

In the press conference after the second Test, Masood said, “There was also a rumour/misunderstanding that I had put my hand on Shaheen’s shoulder and he removed it. He was not angry with me, but his shoulder was injured by Rana’s ball. I had put my hand on the same injured area.”

Another video of Masood had gone viral in which he was seen having a heated conversation with Pakistan head coach Jason Gillespie in the dressing room.

Test captain Shan Masood rubbishes rumours of rift with Shaheen Shah Afridi

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— thakur (@hassam_sajjad) September 3, 2024

Narrating the incident, Masood said, “Then there was a report that I was angry at Gillespie. Our second new ball which was 8 overs old went out of the field after Liton Das hit a six. However, the replacement ball we got was 18 to 19 overs old. We were saying that we should have been given a new ball. I was complaining about this. That’s why we try to go less on social media during games.”