Babar Azam, Shan Masood avoid ax, remain at helm as Pakistan captains

In a big boost for Shan Masood and Babar Azam, the duo have been backed by the team management to continue as the red-ball and white-ball skippers of the Pakistan National Cricket Team, as per the latest report.

In the last few days, several reports emerged claiming that Shan Masood and Babar Azam are all set to be sacked from their respective roles after the poor performances of the Pakistan National Cricket Team across formats.

Babar Azam has always been criticized for his leadership style, and he was sacked as an all-format skipper after the ODI World Cup 2023 before being reinstated in the role for T20I cricket.

However, his return to the helm didn't bring any positive results as the Men In Green kept on delivering one after another poor performance, with the lowest point coming in the T20 World Cup 2024 when they lost to the United States of America.

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Shan Masood, on the other hand, has been winless since becoming the Test skipper of Pakistan. In his first match as the skipper, Pakistan faced a 360-run defeat against Australia before losing the next two matches by 79 runs and 8 wickets.

Then, the Shan Masood-led side faced a shock 10-wicket defeat in the first Test and a 6-wicket loss in the second Test against the Bangladesh National Cricket Team at home, which was a massive setback for the side.

It was reported that looking at the failures of both the skippers, Pakistan Cricket Board officials, including, Mohsin Naqvi, are disappointed and they will hand all-format leadership to Mohammad Rizwan. However, the fresh report claims, no sacking will take place in Pakistan cricket.

Kirsten and Gillespie are very clear that Shan Masood and Babar Azam both need... - PCB source

A PCB source, while speaking to PTI, revealed that there have been no discussions on changing captains in the Pakistan camp, and the head coaches Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie are keen to give longer ropes to Shan Masood and Babar Azam before making any bold decision.

“There has been no discussion on changing the captains as the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has left it up to the two coaches and selectors to decide on the captaincy,” a PCB source was quoted as saying by PTI.

“And Kirsten and Gillespie are very clear that Shan and Babar both need to be given a proper run before judging their leadership abilities,” he added.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has called for a high-profile meeting on September 22, dubbed “Connection Camp”. In the meeting, major decisions regarding the future of Pakistan cricket will be made. However, things that will not be discussed in the meeting are captaincy and team selection, according to the same source.

"That workshop is being held to hear the views of all stakeholders, mainly the domestic team coaches, selectors, and contracted players so that the board is able to bridge the gap between domestic cricket and international cricket standards,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan National Cricket Team are likely to be led by Babar Azam in the Champions Trophy 2025 as he is expected to take charge of the ODI team as well.