In a surprising turn of events, star batsman Babar Azam has decided to resign as captain of the Pakistan national cricket team for white-ball formats. Babar Azam’s resignation surprised many in the cricket fraternity and the real reason behind his decision to step down from the captaincy has been revealed.
Babar Azam announced his resignation as captain of Pakistan’s ODI and T20I teams through a social media post. This is the second time that the ace batsman has resigned from the Pakistan captaincy.
There was speculation that Babar was sacked due to the team’s disappointing performance in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Babar Azam sacked from Pakistan white ball captaincy?
However, the rumors regarding Babar’s dismissal are not one hundred percent true as White Ball coach Gary Kirsten wanted him to remain the ODI leader.
However, Kirsten has been eyeing a change in the T20I captaincy following the Men in Green’s group stage exit during the recent ICC T20 tournament.
According to Cricket Pakistan, Gary Kirsten met Babar in July to discuss his T20 World Cup 2024 report and captaincy changes.
The report adds that there was a communication gap between Babar and the Pakistan Cricket Board, and that he was not consulted on key decisions after the World Cup.
“During a meeting in July, Kirsten presented her T20 World Cup report and discussed captaincy changes with Babar Azam. Despite Kirsten’s continued efforts to persuade Babar to lead the ODI team, the batsman remained unconvinced. due to the feeling of distance from the players and feeling of undervaluation,” reported Cricket Pakistan.
“Sources indicate that after the World Cup there was a lack of communication between Babar Azam and the cricket board. The cricketer was not involved in any consultation process during this time. Before announcing his resignation, Babar informed a senior board official of his decision,” Cricket Pakistan added.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan has emerged as the leading candidate to take over as captain of the white-ball team. The report adds that discussions on team selection with Rizwan are already in progress. Kirsten’s long-term vision for the Pakistan cricket team includes a new T20 captain.
Babar Azam had left the captaincy after the 2023 ODI World Cup
Pakistan has not achieved any victory in major tournaments since Babar became captain in 2019.
The Men in Green were eliminated in the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup last year after a narrow two-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka. They failed to advance to the knockout stage of the 2023 ODI World Cup in India.
The 29-year-old stepped down as captain of all formats after the ODI World Cup. Shaheen Shah Afridi took over as T20I captain but was removed following a 4-1 series loss to New Zealand.
Babar was then reinstated as white-ball captain, with Shan Masood continuing as Test captain.
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