Last Update on: November 15th, 2023 at 12:14 pm
Former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi has proposed a player who could replace Babar Azam as skipper of the team in both white-ball formats. However, Shahid Afridi highlighted that Babar Azam should continue leading the national cricket team in red ball cricket.
The Babar Azam-led team had a disastrous campaign in the World Cup 2023, failing to qualify for the semi-finals for the third consecutive edition. Pakistan managed to secure just four wins out of nine matches. They ended the tournament in fifth place in the points table.
Babar Azam Should Remain Pakistan’s Test Captain – Shahid Afridi
Speaking to Samaa News, Shahid Afridi has suggested that Mohammad Rizwan should take over the captaincy for Pakistan in ODIs and T20Is while emphasizing that Babar Azam should retain the leadership role in Test cricket.
“Mohammad Rizwan should be Pakistan’s ODI and T20I captain, Babar Azam should remain Pakistan’s Test captain,” Shahid Afridi said.
Babar Azam assumed the role of white-ball captain in 2019, succeeding Sarfaraz Ahmed, and later became the Test captain in 2021. Pakistan reached the semi-finals and finals of the last two T20 World Cups. He also guided the team to the No. 1 ranking in ODI cricket.
We Have Seen A Lot Of Mistakes – Shahid Afridi
Earlier, Afridi expressed disappointment over Babar Azam’s captaincy in the 2023 World Cup. Afridi had hoped that Azam’s leadership would improve over his 3–4 years as captain, but he observed mistakes and unmet expectations.
“I am a big fan of Babar and so are many others. People criticized me for criticizing Babar’s captaincy (aap Babar ki kaptani ke piche pade hain). Babar has always been like a younger brother to me,” said Afridi, as quoted by The Times of India.
“I wanted Babar to be on the list of top captains. He has been captaining for 3-4 years. During this period, there was never a sword hanging over his captaincy. We all supported him. We thought in 3-4 years his grooming would make him better. He would be able to prove himself as a captain and a leader but that hasn’t happened. We have seen a lot of mistakes.”
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