Saqlain Mushtaq wants Pakistan Cricket Board to do this with Babar Azam after T20 World Cup humiliation

Legendary Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq wants the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to have a long-term vision for the selection of Pakistan's captaincy including Babar Azam. Mushtaq believes that Pakistan has lacked a proper system for selecting a captain which has hampered the growth of the team.

The former offspinner also claimed that not having a proper long-term plan has resulted in the constant chopping and changing in Pakistan's captaincy. He wants PCB to have a proper plan before selecting a captain.

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Saqlain Mushtaq says this about Babar Azam to PCB

During an interview with Cricket Pakistan, Saqlain Mushtaq mentioned that the PCB lacks a proper vision for a long-term captain and the recent issues are just because of their short-term visions with no future planning.

"If you have to appoint a captain, do you look at the short term, long term, or mid term? What are you considering when appointing a captain? We don't seem to have a vision; we look at what's going to happen tomorrow and appoint a captain, then change the team the next day. Because the people making these decisions don't even know if they'll be around tomorrow, there's no plan for the long term," Mushtaq added.

He further cited the example of Shaheen Afridi who was appointed for a short-term and Babar Azam was reinstated back into the role. Mushtaq added that due to the short-term planning of the PCB, there have been more chopping and changing which is not good for the team.

"For example, Shaheen was appointed for the short term and he's already out. Now Babar has come in for the short term, there's been just one World Cup, and now he'll be changed. Someone else will come, and then there's the Champions Trophy, and after that, the T20 World Cup," Mushtaq said.

"If you want to create a leader, where does the philosophy of working together go? How will you work together? If you don't have any plan, you'll make anyone the captain. The more you keep chopping and changing, the more time you'll have to give to experiments. And before experimenting, you have to create a complete strategy and look at the pros and cons of that experiment," he added.

Pakistan's recent struggles with captaincy

Pakistan cricket has been struggling for a proper long-term captain for some time now. After the ODI World Cup 2023, Babar Azam resigned from the captaincy due to Pakistan's poor performance in the tournament where they lost to Afghanistan and even failed to qualify for the semi-finals.

Shaheen Afridi was appointed the team'e next captain for the T20Is. But Pakistan suffered a 4-1 series defeat to home team New Zealand under the leadership of Shaheen Afridi. Afterwards, the new PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi removed Afridi from the role and brought back Babar Azam to lead the team in the T20 World Cup 2024.

However, the problems did not stop here as Pakistan went into the T20 World Cup 2024 in poor form. They lost a match to Ireland and suffered a humiliating series defeat to hosts England in the lead-up to the tournament.

With the next white-ball series in November 2024, the PCB has taken its time to decide on Babar Azam's future in the role. If Babar Azam is removed from the role, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan are some other options for the role. Shan Masood will keep his position as Pakistan's Test captain.