The Pakistan captain of the limited-overs format, Babar Azam has been in the news every single day over the last few months, as the recent reports of the country’s journalist Faizan Lakhani have brought the arrogant part of the batter during their Test series in Australia last year.
Babar Azam didn’t have a great time with the leadership hat during the recently concluded T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States of America, where the national side made a group stage exit. The same story happened during their India trip for the ODI World Cup 2023.
Along with that, the form of Babar too has gone down terribly in the last few months as he has failed to make a significant impact in the national team. Questions have started to arise on his batting technique while in the white-ball format, he has found himself under the scanner for slow batting.
Babar Azam rejects lessons from Adam Hollioake despite poor Australia Test series
For the entire 2023, the overall performance of the former Pakistan Test captain Babar Azam was quite poor, as he managed only 204 runs in 10 innings. Even in that three-match Test series, the Lahore-born managed only 126 runs in six innings, at an average of 21 with a best score of 41.
Also Read: Amit Mishra Blames MS Dhoni And Virat Kohli In Fresh Allegations
The numbers were quite poor, as he was exposed to the bouncy conditions of Australia against the pacer- Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood. Even after that terrible performance, he rejected the advice of the national team’s batting coach Adam Hollioake, who knows the conditions pretty well, having been born in Victoria.
His struggle continued during the T20I series against New Zealand, as he was reappointed the captain of the team but the move didn’t work as the team continued their poor results. Under Babar Azam’s captaincy, the team couldn’t get the better of a third-string New Zealand side.
They lost the first of the three-match T20I series against Ireland, before being handed over another series defeat against England, while they started their T20 World Cup campaign with defeats against the United States of America and India to face an early exit in the event.
Recent reports have claimed that he could get sacked from his captaincy position, besides receiving a demotion in the central contract list. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has already decided to deny NOC to Babar Azam and other senior members of the side. That means they won’t be able to be part of the Global T20 League in Canada.
Also Read: Azhar Mahmood Doesn’t Deserve To Be Pakistan Coach- Former Pakistan Player
The same has happened with Naseem Shah, who won’t be able to feature in the upcoming edition of the Hundred in 2025. The board has given the key players a much-needed break to heal their injuries before a long home season, which will end with the ICC Champions Trophy and Pakistan Super League (PSL).
They are scheduled to host Bangladesh in a two-match Test series against Bangladesh, under the captaincy of Shan Masood. It will be interesting to see if Babar Azam gets included in that team.