Pakistan Cricket Team is all set to witness a change in captaincy yet again. As per the reports in Cricket Pakistan, it is learned that Shaheen Afridi is all set to be relieved of his captaincy duties and PCB will be reappointing Babar Azam as the captain.
The reports claimed that Pakistan Cricket Board is preparing Babar Azam for the T20 World Cup 2024. Mohammad Rizwan, who is currently vice-captain of the team, also emerged as a candidate to take the role. But the governing body is keen to give Babar the leadership.
Babar Azam was removed as the captain of the white-ball team after the ICC World Cup 2023. Following that he stepped down from the red-ball captaincy as well and Shaheen Afridi and Shan Masood were given the roles respectively.
But since then things haven’t been in favour of the Pakistan Cricket team at all. They lost all three Tests in Australia and faced a 4-1 drubbing in the T20I series in New Zealand. Babar Azam reportedly has expressed his disappointment with the way he was removed.
The reports have claimed that Babar Azam has told PCB that he will only take the captaincy when he is given complete assurance of not being treated the way he was treated earlier. The new PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi is keen to give his role back to Babar Azam.
Feelers have been sent out to Babar to find out if he is ready to take charge again – A source close to the Pakistan Cricket Board
A source close to the Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed the same and stated: “The funny part is that the powers that be appear to have lost faith in Shan Masood and Shaheen Shah Afridi’s ability to lead the national side in Test and T20 formats with the change in the board’s chairmanship.”
“Feelers have been sent out to Babar to find out if he is ready to take charge again and he has shown some reservations. He wants some assurances from the board chairman,” a source was quoted by PTI.
It remains to be seen when will Babar Azam be appointed. The sources claim that PCB will be making an official announcement soon.