According to ARY News, the Pakistan Cricket Board has appointed Babar Azam as the captain of the T20 and One Day International teams again. His first tenure as captain, as stated in this report, was turbulent.
Following the recommendation of the new selection committee, the Pakistan Cricket Board has appointed Babar Azam as the captain of both the T20 and One Day teams. Babar Azam will not lead the team for the first time; instead, he will continue to lead the national team for four years, and after a break of four and a half months, he has been given this responsibility again.
Babar Azam led the team continuously for four years in his first tenure as captain, but his journey as a leader was full of ups and downs, which also led to criticism from critics.
He took charge of the T20 team in November 2019. He led the team in 71 matches, winning 42 and losing 23.
Babar showed his prowess in the 2021 T20 World Cup, which Pakistanis had been eagerly awaiting for years. On that day, the Green Shirts defeated India for the first time in a World Cup. Despite facing stiff competition, the team led by Babar reached the semi-finals of the mega event.
In the T20 World Cup 2022, the national team reached the final after 13 years, but fate did not favor them, and they could not achieve victory, losing to the West Indies in the final.
Babar Azam led the Pakistan team to the final of the Asia Cup but lost in the final. However, in last year’s Asia Cup, they were eliminated in the first round.
The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup held in India last year proved to be the toughest for Babar Azam, as he could not lead the team to the semi-finals.
For the first time in the history of the World Cup, Pakistan lost six matches, and even the cricketing minnows Afghanistan defeated the Green Shirts.
Due to poor performance, Babar Azam was removed from the captaincy, and Shahin Shah was brought in. However, with changes in the board, Shahin Shah’s captaincy was short-lived, and the worst failures in the series against New Zealand and PSL 9 provided an easy opportunity for decision-makers to change captains.
On the other hand, while many fans are happy about Babar Azam regaining the captaincy, some have disagreed with this decision. Some fans believe that Babar Azam’s batting is affected by the captaincy. If a change in captaincy was necessary, Mohammad Rizwan could have been a better choice.