4 months after Babar Azam had relinquished his captaincy from all formats of the game of Pakistan, the apex body of Pakistan cricket, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to hand the captaincy reigns of the limited overs format of Pakistan to Babar Azam, again.
Babar Azam had stepped down from the role after reportedly getting pressure from PCB after Pakistan’s poor performance in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. The 1992 World Cup winners had failed to qualify to the semi-finals of the World Cup and the poor performance started echoing the sound of the death bells of the captaincy tenure of Babar Azam.
PCB took to social media via a post to announce the reinstatement of Babar Azam as the captain of the ODI and the T20I formats of Pakistan.
“Babar Azam appointed as white-ball captain. Following unanimous recommendation from the PCB’s selection committee, Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi has appointed Babar Azam as white-ball (ODI and T20I) captain of the Pakistan men’s cricket team,” read the caption of the post.
Shaheen Afridi sacked as the T20I captain
After Babar Azam had left captaincy, Pakistani bowling spearhead, Shaheen Afridi, was appointed as the captain of the T20I side. But he failed to get Pakistan off to the right start as the Men in Green suffered a thumping 1-4 loss at the hands of New Zealand in an away series.
Post that, Shaheen Afridi’s Lahore Qalandars finished with the wooden spoon in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2024 and this started raising question marks over his captaincy.
Shaheen Afridi had previously led Lahore Qalandars to back-to-back PSL titles in PSL 2022 and PSL 2023 but failed to replicate his success mantra in this edition.
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Babar Azam’s winning percentage as Pakistan captain
Babar Azam has a win percentage of 60.46 in ODIs and is considered as one of the most successful Pakistan captains. He has registered 26 wins in 43 matches and would be looking to continue from where he left off.
In the shortest international format, Babar Azam has captained Pakistan in the maximum number of matches. In 71 matches, Azam has notched up 42 wins and has a win percentage of 59.15.
Babar Azam is considered as a contemporary great and will be instrumental in bringing the golden age of Pakistan back.
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