Babar Azam has once again become the captain of Pakistan. Babar Azam returns as the Captain of Pakistan. Today, PCB has announced that Babar will lead the country’s One Day International (ODI) and T20 International (T20I) teams. After the last Cricket World Cup, Babar had stepped down from the leadership role in three formats to some extent.
Then, in Tests, Shan Masood and in T20Is, Shahid Afridi were given leadership roles. Afridi has been relieved of T20I captaincy. That means, Pakistan will play the T20 World Cup under Babar’s leadership. Masood has been retained as the Test captain. So far, Pakistan has played only one T20I series under Afridi’s captaincy. In January of this year, Pakistan lost the series 4-1 to New Zealand. There are doubts about Afridi’s captaincy in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) this season.
Despite leading Lahore Qalandars to the championship twice before, they were at the bottom this season. Lahore won only one match out of 8 matches played this season under Afridi’s leadership. The discussion about Afridi’s leadership officially started on March 25th. During the announcement of the new selection committee, PCB chairman Mohsin Nakvi said, “Even I don’t know who will be the captain. Whether Shahin will continue or a new one will come, it will be decided after the fitness camp.”
However, it was announced during the fitness camp that Babar will return as the captain. The fitness camp will continue until April 8th. Babar has led Pakistan in the last two T20 World Cups as well. Babar’s return as captain is likely to dispel any concerns about the team’s grouping. A few days ago, Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim, both of whom are among Babar’s biggest critics, announced their return from retirement. They both had criticized Babar heavily. They had even commented that Babar doesn’t deserve a place in Pakistan’s T20I squad. So, there’s curiosity about what their relationship with Babar will be like after his return as captain!
