PAK vs IRE: Shaheen Afridi OUT, Pakistan to reappoint Babar Azam as 3-Format CAPTAIN
PAK vs IRE: In a bit of reshuffling at the leadership position, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is likely to reappoint Babar Azam as Pakistan's all-format captain, removing incumbent Shaheen Afridi in white ball and Shan Masood in Tests. The development comes with the decision of the new selection committee of the PCB under new chair Mohsin Naqvi.
As per the reports, Moshin Naqvi met Babar Azam earlier this week and potentially offered the leadership role to lead the T20I side in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024. However, he is yet to accept the offer.
If Babar Azam comes to the indicated terms, then he is expected to take over the T20I captaincy from Shaheen Afridi, effective from the five-match T20I series against New Zealand.
Interestingly, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) under the then-chief Zaka Ashraf stripped Babar Azam of the captaincy in all three formats for Pakistan following his team's awful run in the Asia Cup 2023 and the subsequent ODI World Cup 2023 in India. Pakistan couldn't even make it to the semi-finals of the tournament and crashed out of the ODI World Cup in India.
The Men in Green saw two new captains after Babar Azam's exit from the captaincy position. Ace pacer Shaheen Afridi was awarded the white ball leadership while Shan Masood was offered the red-ball captaincy by the PCB.
Reportedly, PCB has lost faith in Shaheen's captaincy after his recent outings in the PSL 2024 for Lahore Qalandars. The team could only win a solitary fixture in the 10 outings during the PSL 2024 and finished at the bottom of the points table. Moreover, the pacer couldn't lead his side efficiently against New Zealand, of late, and crashed 4-1 against them.
The final decision on the same is likely to be taken after Pakistan's ongoing training session at the Kakul Academy in Abbottabad comes to an end.
Babar Azam has led Pakistan in 133 matches across the three formats before he relinquished the role in November last year. Of 133 outings as the captain, Babar has managed to seal 78 games, while 43 resulted in a loss. His win percentage stands at 64.34.
Pakistan to appoint 2 New Coaches for Babar Azam-led Side
Besides the leadership role, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is also actively looking for individuals who could take up the coaching duties on the side. The cricket board earlier approached Shane Watson and Darren Samy, however, both have turned down the lucrative offers as of now.
Notably, the PCB is now in talks with Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie for the roles. If the reports are to be believed, the former South African is likely to be handed white-ball coaching duties while the latter will take up the test roles in the side.
