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Babar Azam accepted the proposal to take over the Pakistan National Cricket Team's captaincy role in the Test for the second time in his career, only on one condition: leadership in all three formats. Pakistan selectors reportedly agreed with Babar's demand as they had been considering changes in the ODIs and T20Is as well.
A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) source informed Telecom Asia Sport how the board convinced Babar Azam to take the reins of the Test captaincy again. Babar was named as the captain for the longest format of the game, replacing Shan Masood, who, as a batter, did a decent job, but as a captain, it was nothing but failure.
PCB countered Babar Azam with a stipulation
PCB sacked Babar from the Test captaincy a couple of years ago due to his poor batting form and inconsistency. Shan Masood was promising and still is one of the best in the format for the nation. Under the leadership of Masood, Pakistan suffered 12 defeats in 16 matches after being appointed as the leader of the team in December 2023.
Before announcing the squad for the West Indies series, two national cricket selectors met Babar Azam to pitch their proposal. Babar agreed to retain the captaincy role but with the demand of captaincy in the remaining two formats as well. If the reports are to be believed, then the board selectors agreed with Babar's terms, but they too set some hurdles for the experienced candidate.
Babar Azam wants to be the captain in all three formats for Pakistan
If the team under his leadership can fetch satisfying results across the Tests against West Indies and England, only then could the PCB consider the batter as an all-format captain.
"Two selectors met Babar before the announcement of the Test captain on July 5 as they had no option other than Babar for red-ball captaincy and Babar accepted the role on condition of getting the captaincy in the other two formats as well," a source said to Telecom Asia on Monday.
"Babar had always wanted to be the sole captain of Pakistan in all three formats, and when he put that condition, the selectors told him that if the team does well in the West Indies and England over five Tests, then he will get the all-format captaincy," the source added.
Pakistan's T20I captaincy remains a solved puzzle
The T20I captaincy did not bring any pleasure to Shaheen Afridi and Salman Ali Agha as both were sacked from the role. Agha stepped down from the T20I captaincy following the disappointment in the 2026 T20 World Cup, and Afridi was dethroned only after one series.
Currently, for the ODIs, Shaheen Afridi remains the captain. Before snubbing Shan Masood from the Test team leadership role, the Pakistan Cricket Board took about a couple of months before appointing Babar Azam, marking the move as a well-thought-out step taken by the nation's cricket board.
In the recent past, Babar guided Peshawar Zalmi to emerge as the winner in the Pakistan Super League 2026 (PSL 2026) season as the captain and top-order batter.
