Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam’s dismal form with the bat in the 2023 ODI World Cup was one of the main reasons behind his resignation from the captaincy. However, it is alleged that PCB and President Zaka Ashraf planned a trap for Babar and forced him to resign from the captaincy.

However, controversies at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) are not new, and amid the team’s tour of Australia, another controversy has knocked on the doors of Pakistan’s cricket governing body. In an audio leak, reported to be from PCB president Zaka Ashraf, he is revealing the reason behind Babar Azam’s removal from captaincy in all three formats of international cricket.

Another controversy knocks on the doors of the PCB

In the 2 minutes and 15 seconds long audio clip that is going viral on social media, Zaka Ashraf was heard claiming Hasan Ali’s place in the team due to his friendship with Babar Azam. The voice recording said:

“Hassan Ali played because he is a friend of Babar Azam. There is a person named Talha (Rehmani) who is an agent. He has 8 national team players under his control. He even goes to the players’ houses and also has good relationships with their families. And the players don’t even move without his permission.

“When I told Babar Azam to remain the Test captain but give up the white-ball captaincy, he told me that he would let me know after speaking to his family, but he went to his manager, Talha Usmani, who told him. He said to leave everyone’s captaincy. formats. If Babar resigned, he already had plan B ready,” he told his relatives.

Breaking News Fakhta made public the alleged audio of PCB Management Committee Chairman Zaka Ashraf. How did you plan it? How did they not let Mohammad Rizwan be the white ball captain? What plan B was prepared against Babar Azam? Fakhta brought it all to light, accused @TalhaAisham of… pic.twitter.com/ Uh83UwKfQU

— Qadir Khawaja (@iamqadirkhawaja) December 18, 2023

Babar Azam’s poor show with the bat continues

However, Babar Azam’s problems with the bat continued even after giving up the captaincy as the latter could only score 21 and 14 runs respectively in both innings of the Perth Test. Shan Masood’s new journey as Pakistan’s Test captain did not get off to a good start as Pakistan lost to Australia by 360 runs in dominant fashion.

Meanwhile, Pakistan national cricket team is set to take on Victoria XI in a two-day practice match ahead of the second Test of the three-match series against Australia national cricket team. Pakistan, led by Shan Masood, is scheduled to play the second Test against the Australians at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from December 26.

Notably, Pakistan have not been in good form in international cricket over the last few months. The ‘Men in Green’ were eliminated from the Super 4 phase of the 2023 Asia Cup and could only beat low-ranked teams such as Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

The same journey continued in CWC 2023 where Pakistan was once again eliminated from the tournament in the round-robin phase and also lost four matches in a row.

The Pakistani pace battery, which was known for its pace and was the key strength of the team, became a weakness and the team lost matches due to poor performance of the pacers.