Pakistan Cricket Team: Why were Shaheen Afridi and Babar Azam given Special Shirts?

Pakistan restored parity in the T20I series against Ireland after winning the 2nd T20I by 7 wickets in Dublin on Sunday (May 12).

It was a fantastic performance from the visitors who rode on the batting performances from Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman to register a decent victory over the Irish.

It was a massive victory for them, as it has taken the series to the final match on Tuesday.

Apart from the much-needed victory, the Pakistan Cricket Board also celebrated two of their stars' achievements and commemorated the occasion by handing two new jerseys.

Former Pakistan T20I captain Shaheen Afridi and current captain Babar Azam were presented with special jerseys and PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi himself handed over the special shirt to both players.

Pakistan Cricket: Why Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi were given Special Shirts?

Babar Azam was handed a special shirt after winning the 45th T20I match as Pakistan captain. Out of Pakistan's 11 T20I captains over the years, Babar is the most successful captain. The 29-year-old was reinstated as Pakistan's captain ahead of the recent New Zealand series and marked his milestone achievement with the victory on Sunday.

Shaheen Shah Afridi was also honoured with a special shirt as the left-arm pacer achieved a personal milestone in the 2nd match against Ireland. Shaheen picked up three wickets in the match and thus got to 300 international wickets across all formats of the game.

Currently, the 24-year-old has 113 wickets in 29 Tests, 104 wickets in 53 ODIs and 85 wickets in 63 T20Is - taking the total wicket tally to 302.

As Pakistan look forward for the upcoming T20 World Cup, their fortunes will impact massively with the form of the duo. They are slotted in Group A alongside Ireland, USA, Canada and India.