'He was targeted because of..': Ahmed Shehzad and Shahid Afridi engage in heated TV debate

Pakistan cricketer Ahmed Shehzad has been quite vocal about his non-exlusion and constant snub from Pakistan cricket team for a long time. The opening batter had complained earlier that he is being mistreated by the current mamagement at the Pakistan Cricket Board, who do not even allow him to use the facilities of the Pakistan high-performance camp even after having played more than 100 games across format for his country. He got support from wicketkeeper and batter Kamran Akmal who slammed PCB for treating Shehzad in a demeaning way. 

After a series of interviews, where he blamed PCB and the current selection committee for the snub, Shehzad has now gone into an argument with former Pakistan captain Ahmed Shehzad, and that too on national TV. Both of these cricketers were a part of Samaa TV panel and the topic of Shehzad's snub came up. Speaking on the same, Afridi said that Ahmed was targeted because of him. What Afridi meant was that he always back him when he was the captain and when he left, he did not receive the same support.  

"Ahmed was targeted because of me because I supported him a lot. I gave him a lot of chances, which turned out to be a negative thing for him when I left captaincy. I think people thought he was my favourite. I supported him a lot because I wasn’t finding an opener of his ability in Pakistan. He was performing as well. Obviously, he couldn’t perform in all games but he was targeted because of me as well," Afridi said.

Shehzad was quite taken aback by this Afridi statement and needed answers quickly. He said that he was hurt by Afridi's statement on him. He said, "Shahid Bhai, listen. I don’t know why you said that. You’ve been an elder brother to me, you can say anything to me. Sometimes, it does hurt me, but you have always been an elder brother to me," he said.

Afridi then added that he wants Shehzad to score runs and enjoy his life but the opening batter countered him by asking where should he score runs when he is not being given any platform to do so.