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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is expected to reappoint Babar Azam as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team for the T20I format after electing him as the captain of the Test format.
According to Pakistani media reports, the Mohsin Naqvi-led cricket board could consider one of the most dependable batters as the leader for the shortest format for the second time.
Babar Azam all set to replace Salman Ali Agha
Throughout the transition phase of the team, Salman Ali Agha was the captain of Pakistan's T20I team. Agha was the leader of the team during the previous ICC T20 World Cup as well. Under the leadership of Agha, the team gained some promising moments, but failed to fetch notable success in the ICC events.
On the other side, when Babar Azam was the captain of the team, the Men in Green came close to winning ICC's elite tournaments at least on two occasions. With Babar as the captain of the team, the national team came close to winning the T20 World Cup title.
During the 2021 T20 World Cup edition, Pakistan reached the semi-finals, and in the 2022 edition, they were the runners-up. Additionally, to date, the top-order batter has one of the best win-lose records as the captain of the team in the shortest format of the team.
Babar Azam was almost sidelined from the T20I side
Later, his form in the format was on a downward trend, and he was almost sidelined from the side. Babar was in the line-up during the 2026 T20 World Cup as well, but his batting position was full of uncertainty. On crucial occasions, when the team needed to score runs at a quick pace, the management refused to send the experienced batter in the middle.
After the disappointing run in the tournament, when most of the players' performances were under scrutiny, Babar's career was also reportedly under threat. From there, he is not all set to retain the leadership role again, if the local media reports are to be believed.
PSL 2026 proved to be a fresh start for Babar Azam
The previous edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) might have been working in his favour as he captained Peshawar Zalmi to the top of the championship. In the tournament this year, Babar Azam not only proved his leadership qualities, but also batted in an improvised way. At the beginning of PSL 2026, the right-handed batter's strike rate was under the scanner.
As the tournament progressed, Babar's strike rate also rose, and he finished as the highest run-scorer in the edition with a total of 588 runs in 11 innings, averaging 73.50 and a strike rate of 145.90, which included two centuries. Due to the standout batting performance, he earned the title of Player of the tournament and emerged as the joint-highest run-scorer in a single PSL tournament.
The media report further suggested that while Babar Azam is expected to take the reins back, Salman Ali Agha can remain with the team as a batter.
