“He Was Not Angry”- Shan Masood Clarifies On Shaheen Afridi’s ‘Shoulder Shrug’ Incident

In response to some occurrences that occurred during the Test series against Bangladesh, Pakistani skipper Shan Masood has addressed the current rumours that have surfaced over his connection with teammate Shaheen Afridi.

There were allegations of hostility between the two after Afridi was seen in a viral video shrugging off Masood’s hand during a team meeting. Masood has addressed the matter, stating that Afridi had amputated his hand because of an injury. The skipper brushed down the event, saying it was just a misunderstanding.

Masood also talked about another incident, giving supporters some background and reassurance that he and Afridi are still on good terms. Masood showed his leadership and dedication to a positive team atmosphere by speaking up to stop rumours and preserve team harmony.

“There’s nothing more to it. I think there was an incident going around where I had put my hands on Shaheen’s shoulder, and he had shrugged it off. He was not angry with me. He had got hit by Nahid Rana and I had touched that exact place,” Masood said during the post-match press conference.

“The next one was that I was angry at Jason Gillespie”- Shan Masood

In another instance, Shan Masood appeared to lash out at Afridi after the latter had acknowledged a boundary. Nonetheless, the former claimed that his anger was not intended at Afridi but rather at head coach Jason Gillespie for not using an older ball during the game.

“The next one was that I was angry at Jason Gillespie. But that was not the case. Our ball had gone into the stands after Litton hit a shot. That ball was 8 overs old. After the umpires replaced the ball, we noticed that it was much older, 18-19 overs old and I was arguing that we needed a better ball, and then I saw rumours of resignation, a rift with Shaheen. So we try to watch less social media during matches,” Masood added.

Masood suffered his fifth straight defeat since taking over as captain in 2023 as Pakistan fell to Bangladesh by six wickets in the second Test match played in Rawalpindi.