Former Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi has advised the current team’s captain for all formats, Babar Azam, to retire from T20I captaincy. He believes the captaincy load is deteriorating Azam’s performances, which was visible in the recently-held ICC T20 World Cup 2022.
Babar should retire as T20I captain of Pakistan, says Shahid Afridi
According to Afridi, Pakistan’s T20I squad has plenty of options for choosing a potential skipper from. One from Shan Masood, Mohammad Rizwan, or Shadab Khan can be an ideal choice. While presenting his opinion, the flamboyant all-rounder said,
“Babar Azam should quit the T20I captaincy and focus on his batting. We have other players who can lead the T20I team, like Shadab, Rizwan, and even Shan.”
Apart from Afridi’s statements, it must be noted that within a short span of holding leadership, Azam has proved himself as the most successful T20I skipper in Pakistan Cricket history. As a captain, he has won 40 out of 66 games, which makes 65.57%.
Furthermore, under Azam’s captaincy, Pakistan, for the first time, came across the delights to defeat India in a World Cup match. He has also taken the team to the final stages in three big tournaments consecutively.
Pakistan were the semifinalist of the World Cup 2022, whereas, lost the Asia Cup 2022 final against Sri Lanka. They also managed to reach the World Cup 2022 final, unfortunately, losing against England. However, reaching the big stages on back-to-back stages is itself an achievement as a captain.
Moreover, despite poor showcases in the World Cup 2022, he bounced back with one great inning against New Zealand in the semifinal and is now the World’s number third T20I batter, climbing up a spot.
