The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced Babar Azam as the new white-ball captain of the Pakistan Men’s national Cricket team. Babar Azam has already led Pakistan in 43 ODIs and 71 T20Is between 2019 and 2023. In a strategic move aimed at ensuring player well-being and peak performance, the board overhauled the white-ball leadership. Babar Azam , renowned for his brilliant batting record in international cricket will take over the captaincy from Shaheen Shah Afridi.
The Pakistan Cricket Board recently appointed Babar Azam as the new leader for white-ball cricket, replacing Afridi in T20Is. Babar Azam had previously relinquished his captaincy across all formats following Pakistan’s disappointing performance in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. Afridi took over the T20I captaincy while Shan Masood was appointed for red-ball cricket.
Shaheen Afridi’s captaincy stint as Babar Azam takes over reigns of Pakistan T20I.
Babar Azam, with his proven leadership skills and remarkable consistency, is well-equipped to lead the team. His past captaincy record speaks for itself. Under his leadership, Pakistan beat India for the first time in a World Cup encounter back in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. In the 2022 T20 World Cup, he led the team to the final. This was Pakistan’s first final in a World Cup since 2009. His appointment as captain reflects PCB’s confidence in his ability to inspire and unite the team towards success.
While Shaheen Afridi has undeniably proven himself as a star fast bowler, leading Pakistan’s pace attack over the years, the board recognizes the importance of rotation and rest to maintain his peak performance. This decision aligns with board’s commitment to safeguarding the longevity of the players, especially fast bowlers given their injury timelines in the past two years.
Keeping in mind workload management, this decision is to ensure Pakistan main bowlers remain at the top of their game. The board does not want the national men’s team to run into injury crisis concerning the bowling resources as seen before the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, where Shaheen had to bee closely looked after and ICC ODI Cricket World Cup 2023, where the team didn’t have the services of Naseem Shah.
Afridi’s tenure as T20I captain faced criticism after Pakistan’s underwhelming series in New Zealand and Lahore Qalandars’ poor performance in the Pakistan Super League. Eventually, Babar Azam replaced Afridi as T20I captain. Former cricketer Rashid Latif believes Babar Azam has taken revenge against Shaheen Afridi by accepting captaincy in the white-ball format.
Rashid Latif’s take on star sensational batter Babar Azam replacing Shaheen Shah Afridi as Pakistan’s T20I skipper
Former cricketer Rashid Latif believes Babar Azam has taken revenge against Shaheen Afridi by accepting captaincy in the white-ball format.
“Shadab Khan made a smart statement when he lost the series against Afghanistan. He stood up and said, ‘Without Babar and Rizwan, this team isn’t complete.’ That means I’m not the captain. The same I was expecting from Shaheen when Babar was removed. If Shaheen had taken that step that day, he wouldn’t be seeing all this today. No matter how much friendship there is, Babar has taken revenge [against Shaheen],” Latif said.
“Shaheen was treated unfairly and so was Babar,” he added.
Latif expresses concern about the team’s cohesion, suggesting it may crumble if they don’t win the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup.
“I see this team falling apart. If they don’t win the World Cup, they’ll be seen crumbling. Winning the match against India is necessary. It feels like the 90s era has returned,” he said.
The Pakistan Cricket Board is very thankful to Shaheen Afridi for his contributions as captain and looks forward to his success on the field. He will be part of Pakistan’s core leadership group. We give our unequivocal support to both Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi as they embark on their respective roles, aiming to make Pakistan a top team in the world of cricket.
The Men in Green have won the T20 World Cup once, beating Sri Lanka in the final in 2009 at Lord’s. Pakistan are clubbed with co-hosts USA, India, Canada, and Ireland in Group A. The marquee match against Team India is on June 9 in New York as Babar Azam’s men hope to beat their arch-rivals.