Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will not force Babar Azam to give up his status as Pakistan’s all-format captain according to PCB Management Committee’s head Najam Sethi.
However, the acting head of the governing body of cricket did emphasize that Babar is smart enough to know when to call it quits himself.
“There is no threat. Our established skipper Babar will remain the captain of our national squad until he himself decides whether he wants to leave captaincy of any one format or all three formats or he wants to remain the captain in all. It will totally be his call,” Sethi said while answering questions following the announcement of the squad for Pakistan’s series against Afghanistan.
Azam is not part of the touring party with the captaincy going to Shadab Khan.
There have been growing murmurs that PCB may look to replace Babar Azam as the national team’s skipper in at least one format to freshen things up. Despite Babar’s decent captaincy record in T20Is, he has won 40 of the 61 games he has captained, many in cricketing circles believe that his own nature of batting approach is hamstringing the national side.
“I respect Babar a lot; he is our top star. I am very happy that he supported our decision to try youngsters against Afghanistan”, Sethi added.
The three-match series against Afghanistan seems to be an audition for Shadab for the role. Shaheen Afridi is also a contender given his success with Lahore Qalandars but being just 22 he is likely to be made a deputy before the big job.
Babar will likely retain the Test and ODI leadership roles, two formats in which he thrives.
