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Two months before
the T20 World Cup, Pakistan’s white-ball captain, star batsman Babar Azam, was
reappointed on Sunday. Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi is replaced as the T20
captain by Babar. After just one series, in which Pakistan lost 1-4 to New Zealand
in January, the pacer was taken out. Following a unanimous recommendation from
the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) selection committee, Babar was reinstated.
“Following unanimous recommendation from the PCB’s selection committee,
Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi has appointed Babar Azam as white-ball (ODI and T20I)
captain of the Pakistan men’s cricket team,” the PCB said in a media
release.
Babar apparently
wanted to be named Test side captain and requested guarantees regarding his
stay during a recent meeting with PCB Chief Naqvi in Lahore.
Naqvi, however, reaffirmed the board’s position, saying that although Babar
will be given a fair shot in the white-ball formats, a decision about the Test
captaincy will be taken later, according to a trustworthy source within the
PCB.
The red ball team is currently being led by Shan Masood.
“Naqvi made it clear to Babar that PCB will decide on the Test captaincy
after appointing the red ball foreign coach and Pakistan has no Test
commitments until after the World Cup,” the source added.
Babar had resigned
as captain of all three forms following a lacklustre performance in November of
last year during the ODI World Cup in India.
After being informed that he would only be leading the Test squad going forward
and would no longer be captain of the white-ball formats, he had given up his
position by then PCB Chief Zaka Ashraf.
The announcement, according to the source, came after Shaheen met with
selectors Muhammad Yousuf, Asad Shafiq, Wahab Riaz, Abdul Razzaq, and Bilal
Afzal on Saturday night at the Kakul training camp. They told him that they
wanted him to concentrate on his bowling and that they thought it was
preferable if a batter led the white ball teams.
According to
insiders, Shaheen didn’t argue much and accepted the move, but he did feel that
it was unfair to evaluate him based just on one series.
The source claims that Shaheen’s poor leadership of the Lahore Qalandars in the
Pakistan Super League, which led to their last-place finish, and his own patchy
play were major factors in the decision to dismiss him.