Waqar Younis powerless on Babar Azam's captaincy and leadership changes in Pakistan despite advisor role

Published - 01 Aug 2024, 03:56 PM | Updated - 24 Aug 2024, 06:56 AM

Waqar Younis, Babar Azam
Waqar Younis, Babar Azam {PC:X}

Ever since the Pakistan National Cricket Team came back from the T20 World Cup 2024, Babar Azam's place in the team as a captain has been under scanner. There have been various reports that the right-hander will be sacked as leader of the team and management wants him to play as a batter only.

This comes after under the leadership of Babar Azam, Pakistan faced a group exit in the T20 World Cup 2024. They faced horrible losses to the United States of America and the India National Cricket Team, failing to reach the Super 8 stage of the tournament, for which they looked favorites.

Babar Azam was reappointed as the captain of the team after being sacked following the debacle in the ICC World Cup 2023. He was given back the white-ball captaincy while the red-ball captaincy stayed with Shan Masood, and there were reports that Babar would be given leadership in the longest format of the game as well.

Recently, there were reports that the Pakistan Cricket Board, along with the newly appointed selectors, who are coaches of the team Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie, held a meeting to discuss the poor performance of the team. Babar Azam's captaincy was criticised a lot along with his batting performance in the meeting.

The reports claimed that Babar Azam came under scanner for his inadequate display of fortitude and command when the team needed it the most during the T20 World Cup 2024. However, the coaches couldn't reach a conclusion on whether they should continue with him as the captain or not, but Shan Masood got their backing to be the leader in Test cricket.

But as per the latest reports in Cricwick, it is learned that the head coach of the white-ball team, Gary Kirsten, and the head coach of the Test team, Jason Gillespie, will make the decision regarding the captain and will submit their recommendations to the chairman.

The reports also claimed that Waqar Younis will not take the decisions regarding captaincy. The former Pakistan cricketer reportedly has been appointed as an Advisor to the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Mohsin Naqvi, who now will be just looking into administrative matters.

Babar Azam to be next seen in action during the Bangladesh Test series

Since the conclusion of the T20 World 2024, Pakistan National Cricket Team haven't played any cricket. The team will next seen in action during the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh. The series will be played from 21st August to 3rd September.

Babar Azam will be one of the key players for his team in the series. It will also be a massive opportunity for him to silence all his criticism and reply to everything with his batting performance. He would also want to better his record in Test cricket, which isn't great of late.

Babar Azam hasn't registered a single fifty in the longest format of the game since 2022. In the 10 innings that he played last year, he scored just 204 runs and also failed terribly in the Test series against Australia, where he scored 103 runs at an average of 20.60 with a top score of 41 to his name.

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