"To become a leader, you've to..." - Younis Khan takes a brutal dig at Babar Azam

Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan has taken a dig at Pakistan captain Babar Azam and stated that a captain must know how to motivate his team apart from his batting or bowling. According to him, it doesn't matter whether the captain is senior or junior but he should be capable of doing the job.

Currently, the Pakistan cricket team is going through a bad phase in almost every department. Talking about the leadership part, Pakistan's captain Babar Azam is under severe pressure. Under his captaincy, Pakistan bowed out of the group stage of the T20 World Cup 2024.

Pakistan lost its first two games to USA and India which made their life difficult. Despite winning the last two group games against Canada and Ireland, Pakistan were found one point short of the USA and suffered an early elimination.

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Younis Khan explains the role of a perfect captain

Younis Khan is currently playing in the World Championship of Legends (WCL) 2024 tournament, where he is the captain of the Pakistan Champions team. While speaking to the reporters after the match, Younis explained the role of a good captain.

The former Pakistan captain mentioned that a captain should be chosen depending on his ability to handle pressure. He also added that a captain should know about each player's skillset even if the player is on the bench.

"It is not necessary to talk about whether the captain is senior or junior. You should make captain someone who is capable, who can handle pressure. It's not the job of just batting and bowling. To become a leader, you have to think of every player, even if the player is on the bench. You should know the player's technique, about his energy, skills. Only then, you can get the best out of them," Younis stated.

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"A leader should be a good motivator" - Younis Khan

While explaining his comment further, he gave a few examples of Pakistan's former cricketers like Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, and Wasim Akram, who were good motivators as well.

"Like we talk about the great Imran Khan, Javed bhai (Javed Miandad), or Wasim Akram. Why were they good coaches? Because they gave us players like Saqlain Mushtaq, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, and Shahid Afridi. According to me, a leader should be a good motivator alongside being a good batter or bowler," Younis added.

There have been talks of the change in Pakistan's captaincy after Babar Azam's continuous failures in ICC tournaments. In the T20 World Cup 2024, Babar failed to ignite any fire in the Pakistan team. He himself scored 122 runs in four matches at a strike rate of just 101.66, which is below by his standards.

Last year, Babar Azam was removed from the captaincy after Pakistan's poor showing in the ODI World Cup 2023. Shaheen Afridi was appointed the new T20I captain of the side but under his captaincy, Pakistan lost the T20I series in New Zealand. Surprisingly, Afridi was removed from the role after just one series and the new chairman Mohsin Naqvi brought back Babar Azam for the role.