Babar Azam gave up captaincy in all three formats after Pakistan was unable to advance to the ODI World Cup 2023 semi-finals. Shaheen Shah Afridi took over as captain of the T20Is, while Shan Masood was designated the new captain of the Test team. But in a five-match T20I series, New Zealand defeated the Shaheen-led team, while Pakistan fell 0-3 against Australia under Masood.
After then, the new management reinstated Babar as skipper for T20Is; nevertheless, the 29-year-old was ineffective in the just finished T20 World Cup. Pakistan was eliminated from the group stage under his direction, and the cricket player came under heavy criticism once more. Shoaib Malik, in the meantime, has counselled him to resign as captain and concentrate more on developing as a batter.
Malik expects Babar to rediscover his rhythm since he understands that every player experiences ups and downs throughout their career. But Malik believes it would be best if he gave up his leadership in white-ball cricket in order to achieve this. He counselled Babar to avoid it and carry on as a player.
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“Life has its ups and downs, particularly for subcontinental cricket players like me. He must be resilient during this period. Regarding his captaincy, I firmly believe that he ought to play as a player solely. That’s what I think. He can make a huge difference for the squad when he performs as a player. However, I think he should avoid taking on leadership roles,” Malik stated in a Cricket Passion interview.
One worthy candidate for white-ball captaincy is Fakhar Zaman: Shoaib Malik
In Malik’s opinion, Fakhar Zaman can be trusted to lead in white-ball cricket. The 42-year-old clarified that Zaman thinks the batsman has the appropriate acumen and leadership qualities to guide the team and that he recognises the value of playing courageous cricket in the present era.
“Fakhar Zaman has the sense and leadership ability for white ball captaincy, in accordance with today’s fearless cricket,” Malik stated.
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