Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar has expressed his disappointment with Babar Azam’s decision to resign as captain of the team across all formats following the team’s dismissal ODI World Cup campaign in India. Despite entering the tournament as one of the favourites, the Men in Green were unable to advance to the knockout stages of the mega event.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam from the leadership position following the team’s poor show in the ODI World Cup. Following Babar Azam’s resignation from his positions in all three forms, Pakistan has appointed Shaheen Afridi as its new T20I captain and Shan Masood as the Test Skipper.
Speaking to the media, Shoaib Akhtar slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board for handling the matter, calling it unfair and hurried and stressed that Babar Azam shouldn’t have been removed from captaining the Test team so quickly, even though he had stated that he was reluctant to captain all three formats.
“The treatment with Babar Azam was unjust. I categorically say that in such a short time, he should not have been removed from the captaincy of Test matches. Even though he said he didn’t want captaincy of all formats and the board was insisting on him captaining Test matches, he shouldn’t have resigned, and he shouldn’t have been pushed out,” Shoaib Akhtar said.
The Men in Green have fallen short of expectations, as they were unable to advance to the semifinals of the highly anticipated tournament in India. Babar Azam was under more strain after Pakistan could not make it to the semi-finals after losing five of their nine games, including a devastating loss to India.
There Has Been Injustice With Babar Azam – Shoaib Akhtar
Shoaib Akhtar went on to criticize the board’s lack of patience, stating that Azam ought to have been granted a grace period of about 1.5 months without any formal announcement or pressure and also expressed his displeasure at the management’s habit of making snap decisions, claiming that such actions are indicative of a culture that treats players unfairly.
“They should have given him 1.5 months without saying a word, but the board didn’t do that. We are experts in removing someone from their position and this is how the entire management of Pakistan works, just remove and banish.”
“There has been injustice with Babar, If I were there, I would have given him this month and then worked on a new strategy because now there will be talk of resolving the rift,” Shoaib Akhtar added.
Babar Azam looked short of confidence since the start of the tournament scoring only 320 runs with four fifties at an average of 40, which reflected on his decision on the field and with his batting on the ODI World Cup 2023.
