New Delhi: Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has advised Babar Azam to step down as the captain and focus on his batting after the team’s horror show in the T20 World Cup 2024. Pakistan, who started the tournament as one of the strong contenders for the title, were eliminated from the group stage after suffering back-to-back defeats in their first two matches.
Pakistan suffered a shock Super Over defeat against co-hosts USA in their opening game of the tournament before losing a low-scoring thriller against arch-rivals India. Pakistan did manage to win their remaining two matches against Canada and Ireland but four points were not enough to send them to the Super Eight stage of the tournament.
Amid calls for Babar to be sacked as captain following Pakistan’s disastrous campaign in the T20 World Cup 2024, Malik has advised the Pakistan skipper to step down himself. Speaking on Ten Sports, Malik said if he was in place of Babar, he would immediately step down from captaincy and would look to focus on improving as a batter.
“I think I would immediately resign from the captaincy and focus on my cricket. It has happened to me. I was asked to be captain again in 2009/10 and I did not accept it because I wanted to focus on my cricket. If I was Babar I would do the exact same thing. Babar’s numbers reflect that as well. If he can improve, be better for the country, then do it,” Malik said on Ten Sports in Pakistan.
The former Pakistan captain also highlighted how Babar has failed to make the kind of impact a good leader should have when leading the team for so long. Malik said Babar has failed to create players as a captain that Pakistan can rely on and also pointed out his failure in winning a major ICC trophy despite having led in as many as six major ICC events apart from two Asia Cups.
“A captain should create players for you. Babar has captained in 147 internationals, and has captained in 6 ICC tournaments, but he has not won any. Babar has captained in 127 white ball games and he has not rested himself in any of them. This is a big question mark. I think there was just one game where he rested himself and that too where the board asked him to,” Malik added.
Babar Azam’s shambolic record as captain
Babar was appointed as Pakistan’s full-time captain for the first time after the team’s dismal exit from the 2019 ODI World Cup. He has since led Pakistan in 148 matches across formats and has managed 84 wins with a win percentage of 56.75. Babar has led Pakistan in six major ICC events – T20 World Cup in 2021, 2022 and 2024, ODI World Cup in 2023 and two World Test Championships.
Pakistan have played the final of only T20 World Cup 2022 and have failed to win a major trophy under Babar’s captaincy. Amid speculations over his future as captain, Babar recently said the decision will remain in the hands of PCB and that he won’t shy away from stepping down if he is asked to.
Babar Azam has been adviced to leave captaincy and focus on his batting after Pakistan’s horror show in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024. Pakistan bowed out from the group-stage of the showpiece event after back-to-bck defeats in their first two matches. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
