Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has expressed his concerns over the national team’s poor performance in Test cricket, pointing to the need for a stronger domestic cricket structure. In a recent interview, Afridi said that improving the standard of domestic cricket would benefit all formats of the game. He criticized the trend of selecting players for the national team based on one or two good performances in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), calling it a major mistake. According to Afridi, representing Pakistan should not be so easy, and players must first prove themselves in domestic and first-class cricket. He emphasized that even earning a place in the Pakistan Shaheens (the ‘A’ team) should be a challenging process, so players understand the hard work required to play at the top level. Afridi also highlighted the importance of investing in grassroots cricket by hiring qualified coaches and experienced mentors to build a solid foundation for the future.
Looking ahead, Pakistan will begin their ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025–2027 campaign with a home series against South Africa. In total, they are scheduled to play 13 matches in this cycle, which is only slightly more than Zimbabwe’s 11 Tests, despite Zimbabwe not being part of the WTC. Pakistan’s recent performance in Test cricket has been disappointing. In the first WTC cycle (2019–2021), they finished in fifth place. In the second cycle (2021–2023), they dropped to seventh, and in the most recent 2023–2025 cycle, they ended up at the bottom of the table, managing to win just five out of 14 Test matches.
