“It’s not Fakhar or Babar’s job”: Shaheen Afridi urges whole team to take responsibility to compete against tougher opponents in ODIs

Shaheen Afridi, in his first series as ODI captain, led Pakistan to a 2-1 home win over a depleted South Africa last week in Faisalabad.

“Going into the Sri Lanka series, our focus is to carry that winning momentum forward,” Afridi said at Pindi Cricket Stadium, which hosts all three ODIs this week. “We want to build consistency in our performances and make sure that we keep improving as a team in every department.”

Pakistan’s below-par performances in ODIs this year saw Afridi replace Mohammad Rizwan as captain before the series against the Proteas. In 2025, Pakistan lost a bilateral ODI series against New Zealand and the West Indies and were beaten by New Zealand in the tri-nation series final before failing to qualify for the semifinals of the Champions Trophy it hosted earlier this year.

But Afridi wanted the whole team to take responsibility to compete against tougher opponents in the 50-over format of the game after Pakistan lost 10 of its 14 ODIs in 2025.

“All the players should take responsibility,” he said. “It’s not Shaheen, Fakhar (Zaman), Babar (Azam), or Saim’s (Ayub) job; we all should do our best. We should even back those players who are not performing and always believe that we can perform as a team.”

Left-handed batter Ayub scored two half-centuries against South Africa. That included a top score of 77 in the series-deciding third ODI as Pakistan chased down the target of 144 for the loss of three wickets.

Babar could score only 45 runs in three innings while Zaman followed his 45 in the first match with two successive ducks. However, in the long Pakistan batting lineup, Salman Ali Agha notched two half-centuries, and Rizwan scored 55 to edge out South Africa.

“I was really proud of the way the players responded to different situations and played as a unit (against South Africa),” Afridi said. “The energy, intent and teamwork were outstanding.”