New Delhi. Pakistan is going through a period of drastic change after its poor performance in Cricket World Cup 2023. Babar Azam, who faced criticism for allegedly poor captaincy during the tournament, has been forced to resign from the captaincy. Former captain Mohammad Hafeez has been made the Director of Pakistan Cricket to improve the condition of cricket in the country. Following Babar’s resignation, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced separate captains for the Test and T20 formats. Shan Masood has been named the captain of the Test team while fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has been given the T20 captaincy.
There are mixed reactions in the Pakistan cricket world regarding Babar’s decision to quit the captaincy of all three formats. While current cricketers like Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan and Naseem Shah have praised Babar’s leadership, calling him an inspiration to the team and always standing by the players, there are some players from the same team who have remained silent on the issue. Babar has opened up against Azam and said that the powerful Pakistani batsman does not deserve a place in the country’s T20I squad.
Babar Azam was asked to continue as Test captain but… PCB claimed
4 years of pure joy, it has been an absolute honor to make my white ball debut and play under your leadership. @babarazam258,
You have always led from the front and made us all believe in “One Team, One Dream”.
In Sha Allah, we will see you break many batting records… pic.twitter.com/RCey1X3kLh
– Naseem Shah (@iNaseemShah) November 15, 2023
It is an honor to represent Pakistan under your captaincy. I have been part of many highs and many lows during that period, but your resilience and determination always come out on top. Looking forward to seeing you score big for Pakistan and that too from the best seats… https://t.co/Z06Rc9dfOX
— Iftikhar Ahmad (@IftiMania) November 15, 2023
Shami’s ‘magic’ will play in the final! A chance to beat the Pakistani and Sri Lankan giants
Imad Wasim, who played 55 ODIs and 66 T20 matches for Pakistan as an all-rounder, said during an interview on a TV show that it will be a tough decision but Babar does not deserve a place in Pakistan’s T20 squad. Former fast bowler Mohammad Amir also agrees with Imad Wasim’s opinion. He also said that Babar does not deserve to be included in the T20 squad. Let us tell you that Babar is often targeted for his strike rate in small format cricket. Questions were raised about his strike rate during the World Cup 2023 itself, when T20 cricket requires an even better strike rate. Talking about the shorter format, Babar has scored 5729 runs in 117 ODIs at an average of 56.72 and a strike rate of 88.75. And has scored 3485 runs in 104 T20 International matches at an average of 41.48 and a strike rate of 128.40.
,
Tags: Babar Azam, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, pcb, World Cup 2023
First published: November 17, 2023, 13:10 IST