Babar Azam
Babar Azam Credits: Twitter

Babar Azam is set to be reinstated as Pakistan‘s captain, according to reports in Pakistani media. The star batsman stepped down as the captain in all the three formats after failing to lead his team to glory in the Asia Cup and the ODI World Cup last year.

Pakistan were one of the strongest contenders for both the tournaments but failed to do well. In the Asia Cup, they crashed out at the Super 4 stage before crashing out at the league stage in the World Cup. In the World Cup held in India, they managed to win just 4 of their 9 games. Their campaign was also marred by several controversies.

Babar Azam faced severe criticism not only for his captaincy but also his batting. Soon after his team’s campaign in the World Cup ended, he stepped down as the captain across formats. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) later announced Shan Masood and Shaheen Afridi as Test and T20I captains respectively.

Babar Azam to return as captain:

The change in captaincy did not really change Pakistan cricket’s fortunes as they suffered crushing defeats in Australia and New Zealand after the World Cup. Australia whitewashed the Masood-led side in the three-match Test series.

In the five-match T20I series in New Zealand, the Men in Green lost the first four games before winning the fifth one to avoid a whitewash. And according to reports, the PCB is preparing to reinstate Babar Azam as the skipper after the appointment of Mohsin Naqvi as the new chairman of the PCB.

Naqvi has been elected unopposed as the Chairman of the PCB for a three-year term and he is reportedly set to make a number of changes to Pakistan cricket. Pakistani media has stated that the new PCB boss is keen to see Babar Azam taking charge of the team once again.