ISLAMABAD [Pakistan], Pakistan men's national team manager Wahab Riaz has dismissed rumors of a rift between star players Shaheen Shah Afridi and Baba Azam following the pacer's brief stint as captain during the T20I series in New Zealand. Later, T20I captaincy was handed back to Baba Azam. Shaheen was handed the T20I leadership in January after Pakistan's poor performance in the ICC Cricket World Cup held in India last year, in which they finished fifth after winning only four out of nine matches. This appointment has been made keeping in mind the ICC T20 World Cup starting in West Indies/USA from June 1 this year. But during his first stint as captain, Shaheen suffered a 1-4 defeat to the Kiwis away from home. A disastrous bottom-place finish in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) with Lahore Qalandars after winning two titles in 2022 and 2022 raised questions over Shaheen's leadership and he was dropped in favor of Babar.Amidst all the turmoil over the leadership, there were media reports that Shahi was unhappy with the unusual manner in which he was removed from the captaincy. Some cryptic social media posts against Shaheen gave further fuel to these news, however, after the announcement of the squad for the T20 series against New Zealand starting April 18 at home, Riaz clarified that Shaheen and All the rumors about Babar are not true. , "[In Pakistan] there is so much speculation... we are actually ruining our environment. Until things were made clear, the media and social media were active, it felt like if we had not gone to Kakul [fitness camp] , they might have hit each other," Riaz was quoted as saying by Wisden. He added, "When we actually went, we saw as friendly an atmosphere as we could see.The boys were united. After their training and iftar, they would go to the snooker room or watch TV together. It was a really good atmosphere." Wahan urged the media not to spread rumors and said that the team is more united than ever. He said, "We have to confirm the truth of such news before breaking it.He said, "These are Pakistani players who want to represent their country and that is their collective goal and that is why they are and will remain united." These are the players you talk about for Pakistan to win matches in the future." Pakistan squad for the five-match T20 series: Babar Azam (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Aza Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan Mohammad Aamir, Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saeem Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi Usama Mir, Usman Khan and Zaman Khan Non-travelling reserves: Hasibullah Khan, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jr Sahibzada Farhan and Salman Ali Aga.