'Respect Is Given To Everyone': Babar Azam Junks Reports Of Spat With Shaheen Afridi

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has opened up about his alleged rift about Shaheen Shah Afridi, with reports suggesting that it occurred after the Asia Cup 2023. The right-handed batter has underlined that it was only a general meeting, which happens after every loss and feels it's disgraceful to portray by media anything otherwise.

With the Men in Green suffering a last-ball defeat to Sri Lanka and finding themselves out of the tournament, reports circulated of Babar and Shaheen engaging in a verbal war in the dressing room. However, Shaheen took to his official account on X (formerly Twitter) a few days later and labelled the Pakistan captain as 'family'.

"Respect is given to everyone. You see, whenever the match is close and we lose, it's just a regular meeting, but sometimes it's portrayed as if we had a fight. It shouldn't be like that. Respect should remain constant for everyone. We love each other as much as we do our family," Babar said during a press conference on Tuesday.

"We want to come out as winners" - Babar Azam

Babar further asserted that they are not thinking about reaching the semi-finals of the tournament and instead want to walk away with the trophy. He added:

"The top-four is a small goal for us. We want to come out as winners. We did not have enough time to put together a camp before the World Cup because we had been playing for too long continuously. We wanted to give the players a break so they come back refreshed and with the hunger to win. You play well when you have that hunger."

The Men in Green will open their campaign against the Netherlands on October 6th in Hyderabad.`