Watch: Shahid Afridi accuses this Pakistani player of age fraud during live TV debate

New controversy erupted when former captain of the Pakistan cricket team, Shahid Afridi, made a strange comment about Irfan Khan Niazi's age during a television conversation after their disappointing exit from the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, where they did not reach the semi-final after reaching the Super Eight stages of the event.

Pakistan, skipping with Salman Ali Agha, was only able to gain one win in the Super Eight, and their last match against Sri Lanka was a close loss (5 runs), but the outcome did not help them because of their different net run rates. The early displacement from tournaments resulted in fans and cricket experts criticizing the team and questioning the leadership and strategies of the squad.

It was recommended by Afridi, during the discussion regarding who would lead Pakistan in a global arena in the near future, that there should be a change in the captaincy by the team management prior to more international matches being played. He then supported Fakhar Zaman as one of those who can possibly become captain of Pakistan's T20I team. Additionally, he named some other potential candidates, such as Irfan Khan Niazi, who has captained Pakistan Shaheens at lower levels and has proven to exhibit very good leadership qualities.

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Afridi’s Remark on Irfan Khan Niazi Goes Viral

Irfan Khan Niazi, who reportedly is 23 years old, caused Afridi some shock when the host of the show informed the audience of that fact, creating laughter from Afridi on live television in a somewhat sarcastic manner. He then commented that players from his generation should be approximately the same age as Irfan Khan Niazi.

The remark made by Afridi managed to quickly go viral among social media users, which generated plenty of discussion amongst fans of Pakistani cricket. Many interpreted the comment to be funny and sarcastic; other fans see it as a clue that there might be some age differences with those participating in domestic cricket. Although acknowledged to be a good leader (Irfan), he has very little international batting experience with just 237 runs in 23 matches combined for all formats of the game. In addition, with so many upcoming players vying for positions on the squad, Irfan will likely need to have some impressive domestic performances in order to have any hope of getting back onto the Pakistan national team consistently.