Babar Azam has returned as the white-ball captain of Pakistan. He left the captaincy across formats after the team’s debacle in the ICC World Cup 2023. Shan Masood was given the responsibility of the Test team, while Shaheen Afridi was named as the T20I captain.
After Pakistan failed in the T20 series, the new Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, had a long discussion with the officials, the team management, and Babar. Following the recommendations of the top brass of the board and Azam’s approval, the head of the apex body of Pakistan Cricket named Babar as Pakistan’s new skipper in T20Is and one-day internationals.
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His immediate focus will be on the upcoming five-match T20 series against New Zealand and the IC T20 World Cup 2024. There was confirmation whether Babar would also lead in Test cricket as Pakistan lost 0-3 in the Test series against Australia.
Babar did a fine job as captain in his previous stint, but the then PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf wanted a chance, and after Pakistan’s flop show in the ODI World Cup, he was on the verge of sacking Azam before the star player decided to quit himself.
According to Zaka, he had urged Babar to continue leading in Test cricket, but the player refused.
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For Shaheen, it was a bitter end to his captaincy tenure. After a setback in New Zealand, Afridi was also a letdown as captain for Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League 2024. Lahore was the worst-performing franchise in the latest edition, which put the star pacer out of favor as far as leadership was concerned.