Shahid Afridi took a huge claim over the fans as he said that the fans in Pakistan have a huge affection and love for Virat Kohli that it will easily overtake Indian fans.
As the Champions Trophy which is going to happen next year, a huge claim has been circulating that the Men In Blue might not travel to Pakistan to play the ICC event there. Despite this, according to some reports, BCCI suggested a hybrid model programme for the 2025 Champions Trophy so that the full event can be played successfully without any hesitation.
Afridi is in favour that the Indian team should came here for the ICC event and they will definitely receive great amount of love and appreciation as their national team got during the 2023 ODI World Cup in India, he said,
“I welcome the Indian team (in Pakistan) and they should come. We’ve always received huge respect and love in our tours of India. In the same way, the Indian team also received love and respect during their tour in 2005. Cricket tours should be kept aside from politics. There is no bigger politics than India and Pakistan playing against each other in their countries.
Virat will forget the love he has received in India when he plays in Pakistan. He has a huge craze in Pakistan and our people like him very much. In fact, he is my favourite player. He has his own class and he shouldn’t have retired from T20Is as because of him T20I looked beautiful.”
Not only this, he added that Kohli should play more international T20’s without taking the retirement as he is completely fit and is scoring well and his presence will motivate the youngsters out there. He said,
“He shouldn't have quit T20Is because the format looked beautiful with him in it. Why can't he play? He is fit; he is in form. More than anything else, with him around the new guys would have found a lot more success. You cannot bring all youngsters together; you need a combination of seniors and juniors. What Virat can teach them, I don't think anyone else can.”
Afridi also praised the current Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir for his new position and congratulated him. Also he further added that the chief selector of the national team should be given at least three years of time to settle there. He said,
“Chairman should at least get three years so that the Pakistan captain can remain for 2-3 years at his post. With the change of chairman, other things should not be affected. If we work on the basis of merit, the results will come. If the right person takes the right job, then the result will come automatically.”