PAKISTAN CRICKET: The former PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf has revealed the reason behind removing Babar Azam from Pakistan’s National team’s leadership. He didn’t like the revoking of Shaheen Afridi as T20I Captain.
Babar Azar had a bad tournament in India in October-November 2023 following which, rumors were around that Babar Azam might get sacked by the PCB committee. Around that time, Babar Azam stepped down as the captain of all three formats.
A lot of questions and speculations were around about why Babar stepped down from all three formats all of a sudden. Well, Zaka Ashraf, the then Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board has now revealed the reason why he took that big step.
Zaka Ashraf Reveals
Zaka Ashraf recently talked to a reporter and uncovered his stance and management when he was the skipper. He wanted Babar to focus more on his batting and play with less burden to bring out his best.
“I offered to retain Babar Azam as the captain for red-ball cricket, but we wanted to appoint a new captain for white-ball cricket. He responded by stating that if he were to be replaced as captain in one format, he would rather step down from captaincy in all formats.”
“Consequently, I suggested that he should focus on playing as a team member for Pakistan, as it was clear that he was finding it challenging to cope with the pressure of captaincy,” he added
“That was his own decision. When I met him I told him clearly that everyone felt that the burden of leading in all formats was adding to the pressure on him and his performances and he should continue only as red ball captain,” he recalled.
After Pakistan’s dismal series in New Zealand and Lahore Qalandars’ disappointing showing in the Pakistan Super League, Afridi’s leadership in T20Is came under flames. Azam eventually took Afridi’s spot as the T20I captain. Ashraf didn’t like the removal of Afridi from T20I captaincy as well.
He said “It is unfair to him that he had just one series to prove himself. The board should have shown faith in him. I would not have removed him.” He asked, “If you can give Babar so much time as captain, why not Shaheen?”
He, however, sent good wishes and support towards the skipper Babar Azam.
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Source- Cricket Pakistan