Under the captaincy of Babar Azam, Pakistan have failed to reach the ‘super eight’ stage of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States of America, after their two consecutive defeats against the USA and the arch-rival India, both of which slipped out of their hand.
In their very first encounter of the competition at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, the whole batting order of the ‘Green Brigade’ struggled for their batting, including their captain who failed to get the rhythm he was after throughout the 44-run knock in 43 balls.
At a few crucial junctures of the game, Babar Azam’s captaincy too came under the scanner, as he failed to use the right tactics in bowling combinations or the fielding set-ups.
Against India, it was all about losing the momentum from a winning position and letting the opponents take over the nucleus of the game, as India did at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
Babar Azam’s T20I leadership position comes under the scanner
In that India game, it was Pakistan’s old mindset of taking the game deep, while they could easily end the 120-run chase in 18-19 overs, when they had wickets in hand, by looking to whack the bowlers in all parts of the ground, but they rather decided to knock the dot balls to put pressure on themselves.
Once Mohammad Rizwan played a bad shot against Jasprit Bumrah, it opened the channel for the Indian side to keep on taking wickets at regular intervals, as the Babar Azam-led side fell short by six overs, from a position, where they should have made a cakewalk of the run-chase.
It was Shaheen Shah Afridi who was appointed as the Pakistan T20I captain at the start of this year, after Babar resigned from the ODI captaincy on the back of the team’s poor performance in the last ODI World Cup 2023, in India. However, Afridi couldn’t hold his role for a long period, as he was removed from the position after leading the team in one single series against New Zealand where they faced a 4-1 defeat.
Just before the start of this T20 World Cup, Babar Azam was re-appointed to that position, as the move was addressed as a ‘strategic decision’ by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
The 2009 champions will now face Bangladesh in a home two-match Test series, where it’s likely that the Test captain Shan Masood will keep his position, as the former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie’s tenure as the red-ball head-coach will begin.
The board, however, is not satisfied with the way Babar has led the team in this T20 World Cup, and he could lose his position. The newly appointed white-ball Pakistan coach Gary Kirsten didn’t get enough time with the team, after coming to the England series on the back of finishing his Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, where he coached the 2022 champions Gujrat Titans (GT).
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The runners-up of the last season, despite these defeats, will qualify for the next edition of the 20-over World Cup, in 2026, on the back of their strong ICC rankings. It will be interesting to see how many changes the PCB brings to their T20 team, while many former players of the country have asked for a wholesale change in the squad, to bring new and fresh young players.
They will end their T20 World Cup 2024, with their last group game scheduled on June 16, against Ireland, at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, in Lauderhill, Florida.
