June 11 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Babar Azam has been one of the most talked about players in the T20 World Cup, but not for the right reasons. He has been facing scrutiny for his captaincy after Pakistan’s horror start to the tournament. In New York, nothing has gone in Pakistan’s favour thus far, and people have started pointing fingers at the captain, which is not new in the sport. Babar was re-instated as a Pakistan skipper earlier this year after the new management took charge of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
However, once again, former cricketers have asked him to step down as captain and joining the bandwagon is veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik who feels the captaincy pressure is pulling Babar down as a batter.
“I have been saying for a long time, please leave captaincy. You are a class player, and you will only be able to show your class when you do not have additional responsibilities on you. If Babar stays away from captaincy, it will be good for him,” Shoaib Malik said on Ten Sports.
Malik didn’t mince his words while criticising Babar’s leadership and asserted that his brain didn’t kick in against India, where the platform was set for Pakistan in the moderate 120-run chase.
“People keep talking about Babar and Rizwan’s strike rates, so you brought in Saim Ayub,” Malik said.
“Yesterday, it was a 120 chase, why were you trying to improve your strike rate? The platform was set in every manner. If as a leader and a batter, your brain doesn’t kick in, in these sorts of situations, when will it? I am forced to say today that the core of this team, in the T20I format, I think we have to stop backing them,” Malik added.
Earlier, Babar stepped down as Pakistan captain in 2023 after his team’s poor show in the ODI World Cup. Shaheen Shah Afridi was appointed the T20I captain, but he didn’t get a long rope and got removed after the series defeat against New Zealand. PCB explained the decision to remove Shaheen as captain of the senior men’s T20I team, saying it was a “strategic move” aimed at handling the workload of their premier fast bowler. However, it seems like the tide is changing once again with Babar under the scanners.
