Babar Azam was targetted by former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif for his poor and weak captaincy in the recent T20 World Cup 2024. Pakistan was eliminated from the tournament in the group stage itself after losing to the USA and India.
Despite winning their next two matches, the Babar Azam-led team fell short of finishing in the top two of Group A.
The Pakistan captain also received criticism for his batting performance in the recently ended T20 World Cup. The right-handed batter scored 122 runs in four matches, with an average of 40.66 and a poor strike rate of 101.67. Pakistan failed to advance beyond the group stage of the T20 World Cup for the first time since 2014.
Babar had resigned from the captaincy of the Pakistan team after their poor performance in the ICC World Cup 2023 in India. Shaheen Afridi was named the new T20I captain but was removed from the post after losing 1-4 in the T20I series in New Zealand.
New PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi then offered the white-ball captaincy back to Babar Azam, who took and was named captain for the T20 World Cup 2024.
This was despite Babar not being able to win any T20I series for more than a year or any major T20I event including the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup.
Babar Azam’s biggest mistake was accepting the captaincy again: Rashid Latif
Rashid Latif argued that Babar Azam should not have been reappointed captain following the ODI World Cup, labeling his second stint as ineffective. Latif stated that Babar’s acceptance of the captaincy was the most serious blunder that might further hurt his game.
“Babar Azam shouldn’t have been removed as captain after the ODI World Cup in India. Shaheen came in to replace him. But Babar’s second tenure as captain was weak. Babar looked weak. This is not the way team selection should be done.
Babar didn’t fight (in the T20 World Cup). His biggest mistake was accepting the captaincy again. If he continues as captain, it will be an even bigger mistake. He is drifting away from his game,” Rashid said in a video.
Rashid Latif tells me "Babar Azam's biggest mistake was to accept the captaincy again. If he continues as captain, that will be an even bigger mistake by him" #Cricket pic.twitter.com/hsy9SC28tc
— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) July 2, 2024
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