Shoaib Malik stated that Pakistan’s white-ball skipper Babar Azam has not evolved as a captain in the last four years after the Green Shirts lost to the United States (USA) in the T20 World Cup 2024 in Dallas on Thursday.
Malik, who played under Babar’s captaincy in the T20 World Cup 2021, argued that there is a “blockage” in Babar’s captaincy due to which he does what he has already decided.
“This captaincy talk, I would like to go into its depth. You [Babar] have set a blockage in your mind, that is the problem. If you have decided that Shadab [Khan] has to bat at a certain number, and Azam [Khan] and Iftikhar [Ahmed] have to bat in the last overs, and you do that exactly, these are the blockages,” said Malik while talking on a local channel.
“The most important thing which needs to be fixed is that Babar’s captaincy from four years ago and now, I cannot see any difference. If someone is improving then you give them time because the results will be seen in the long run but in Babar’s case, as a leader, he is still where he was four years ago.”
Renowned commentator Bazid Khan, who was sitting next to Malik, concurred with the all-rounder’s views on Babar Azam saying that after some years, you improve as a captain but that has not been the case with Babar.
“When you are in the team and you do captaincy for years, you improve. I will talk about Wasim Akram, when he became Pakistan's captain at first he wasn’t that good of a captain but he developed and by the time [he retired] he was one of the best captains in Pakistan’s history. If you look at Babar’s captaincy, it has been time but he has not evolved. He is a world-class batter, no doubt about that, but we are talking about his captaincy,” Bazid said.
Pakistan now play arch-rivals India next on June 9 in New York, should they suffer another defeat, their chances of qualifying for the World Cup Super 8 would be little to one. On the other hand, the USA have now two wins in two matches and they are in a strong position to make way to the last eight.
- Babar Azam
- Shoaib Malik
