“Don’t have any choice left…”: Pakistan great names Babar Azam’s successor as captain

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) must choose a new white-ball skipper after Babar Azam recently relinquished the position, and it is going to be a tricky task for them. The Pakistan cricket team has been going through a tough time as their performances in recent ICC events have been extremely poor. 

It all began with the 2023 ODI World Cup where Pakistan suffered a humiliating loss against Afghanistan before they got knocked out in the group stage itself. Babar would relinquish captaincy after the conclusion of the ICC event, and it would be pacer Shaheen Afridi who would replace him as the T20I skipper.

However, after a 4-1 thrashing series defeat to New Zealand, Shaheen would be dropped from captaincy and the control would again fall in the hands of Babar. Pakistan’s situation however, only got worse as, the Men in Green would get knocked out in the group stages of the T20 World Cup 2024 following defeats against USA and India.

Former Pakistan cricketer Mudassar Nazar feels that PCB is now left with the only option to lead the team, Mohammad Rizwan. But suggested that the top management is not very fond of the wicketkeeper-batter.

“Right now, they don’t have any choice left. They’ve tried everyone except Rizwan. They’ll have to make Rizwan the captain. I don’t think the inner circle and top management are very happy with Rizwan, but they’ll be forced to choose him. Otherwise, if they go for a younger player, it will turn into the same situation like with Babar Azam. It’s better to make a senior player the captain and then groom someone under him. In my opinion, it would be better for Pakistan to make Rizwan the captain for all three formats,” Nazar told Cricket Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Nazar also pointed out the reason behind groupism in the Pakistan team.

“The recent poor performances of the Pakistan team have a lot to do with the rapid changes in captaincy. Young players were made captains and then removed, which leads to groupings in the team. This isn’t just Pakistan’s problem,” Nazar said.

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