In a surprising move, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to rest captain Babar Azam and other first-choice players for their upcoming three-T20I series against Afghanistan in Sharjah and named Shadab Khan as the captain.
PCB Management Committee chairman, Najam Sethi, contacted Babar, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi, and Fakhar Zaman on Sunday and informed them that they will be given rest. Also given a rest was Haris Rauf.
PCB selection committee head Haroon Rasheed was quoted as saying: “Babar will remain our captain in all the three formats. I have taken all the senior players into confidence and they all will be part of the team in future, there’s no question about this. Shadab Khan has been the vice-captain and an automatic choice to take captaincy in Babar’s absence, so he will lead the side.”
Since January 2021, Rizwan has played 150 matches across formats (international and domestic cricket) – the most after Rashid Khan’s 157 – while Babar has played 127 and Rauf 125.
Babar Will Remain The Captain Until He Himself Decides Whether He Wants To Leave Captaincy: Najam Sethi
However, questions were raised over Babar Azam being rested for this series and Shadab Khan taking over with former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif made a scathing attack on the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) management committee chairman, Najam Sethi, and Chief Selector, Haroon Rasheed, for destroying Pakistan team’s combination.
Now, Najam Sethi, has himself come and given a clarification that Babar will remain the Pakistan team captain across formats and it will be his own decision if he wants to step down from captaincy in any or all formats of the game.
“There is no threat. Our established skipper Babar will remain the captain of our national squad until he himself decides whether he wants to leave captaincy of any one format or all three formats or he wants to remain the captain in all. It will totally be his call,” Sethi told Cricket Pakistan.
“I respect Babar a lot; he is our top star. I am very happy that he supported our decision to try youngsters against Afghanistan”, he added.
The three T20Is in Sharjah against Afghanistan will be played on March 24, 26, and 27.