Pakistan ended their campaign with a win against Ireland as it was a close encounter while chasing 107 runs. Pakistan will forget this World Cup downgrade performance by the whole team. Skipper Babar Azam didn’t perform well his performance was filled with ups and downs but couldn’t score big runs.
Babar Azam had accepted the captaincy yet once again when he had already resigned as captain after the World Cup 2023. Shaheen Shah Afridi had been appointed as captain but he resigned after the West Indies series where they faced a huge loss by 4-1.
Shahid Afridi slams Babar Azam
Former Pakistan captain and T20 World Cup winner Shahid Afridi slams current skipper Babar Azam for accepting captaincy for the second time. Babar Azam handled this responsibility in 2018 when he was at his peak, so the board decided to appoint him as captain of the team but since he was appointed as captain no ICC tournament or series has been won in Pakistan. Though they were runners-up in the 2022 T20 World Cup and 2022 Asia Cup. Sometimes everyone feels Babar Azam is clueless about what the team needs and which players need to be backed so it raises questions about his decision skills and whether he is capable or not. Still, management feels Babar Azam is the proper choice for the captain’s position. When Shaheen Shah Afridi resigned as captain Babar Azam quickly accepted the decision and became captain once again.
The same person who had resigned from the position suddenly accepts it again with zero decision and thinking. Shahid Afridi is not happy with the decision of being a captain for years and then resigns and again accept it, this kind of behavior won’t suit any cricketer looks like self-respect has gone for a toss simply just for the sake of reputation Babar accepts it. Shahid Afridi said:
“If the move regarding Shaheen’s captaincy had been made and the PCB stated that he would remain the captain till the T20 World Cup, then I think Babar should have supported Shaheen there and should have said that ‘no’, if you have made him the captain, then we are ready to play under his captaincy because Shaheen has been playing with me for a long time. If he is made captain and the selection committee has made him the captain, I will support him and play under his captaincy. This is the stance Babar should’ve taken,”
“Babar’s respect would’ve increased greatly that he has set an example with a remarkable decision,” Afridi said.
“But this was not entirely the fault of Babar because some of the blame lies with the selection committee too since some of the selectors on record said that Babar doesn’t know how to do captaincy.”
None of the cricketers would accept the captaincy so quickly once they resign, they do have their self-respect, and over the years handling the team and won’t perform well then everyone points over the captain that he doesn’t rotate his players well, he doesn’t have the decision power. Captains are self-made and the upbringing is also done by our own so captains like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, and Rohit Sharma are successful captains because their upbringing in cricket was done good and they learn everything once they got the responsibility and the rest is history.