Former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ramiz Raja, shared his views on Pakistan’s white-ball captain Babar Azam’s captaincy following the Green Shirts’ group-stage exit at the T20 World Cup 2024.
Pakistan lost to the United States (USA) and India in their first two matches of the T20 World Cup which put them in a tough spot to qualify for the Super 8 of the tournament.
Pakistan needed the USA to defeat Ireland on June 14 but the match was called off due to excessive rain in Lauderhill, Florida and Pakistan’s journey in the T20 World Cup ended right there.
In a conversation with a local channel, Ramiz was asked to rate Azam’s captaincy as well as Pakistan's batting and bowling. He gave batting a score of two and the bowling a six.
"Batting would be probably a two and bowling probably a six. I would rate him [Babar] about five because a captain is as good as the team and your captaincy comes through when the team is bowling, and in the bowling department, Pakistan have not done too badly. He tried his best but the others had to put in an effort as well," Raja said.
Raja also discussed the reasons behind Pakistan’s group-stage exit where he addressed the return of retired players and the experimental approach in the batting order.
"There was no consistency in selection. Their preparation was hotchpotch because they didn't know who was going to open the innings. They were in that experimental mode for a very long time. Then they had to recall retired players. Even though they have been good in patches, what does it tell of the system?" he said.
Pakistan managed to defeat Ireland in their last match of the World Cup but they were already out of the tournament.
- Babar Azam
- Ramiz Raja
