Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi in his latest tweets referred to Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam as ‘status quo’.
In a series of tweets, PCB Chairman explained that despite media and cricketing circles discussing Babar’s captaincy, he is being made skipper of the PAK vs NZ series, after a discussion with the selection committee headed by Shahid Afridi.
Najam Sethi shares in his that tweet final decision will depend on Babar Azam’s performance-
“One thing I appreciate about Najam Sethi is his stance on non-interference in cricket matters. He should have the same stance while giving statements about Pakistan team’s matters,” said Salman Butt.
Recently, Babar hit his third T20I century and now has 9 centuries in all in the T20 format, only behind Chris Gayle’s record of 22. He is joint second on the international T20I list with Suryakumar Yadav having three centuries, behind Rohit Sharma, who had four tons to his name.
Whereas in the five-match T20I series, the Pakistan side is leading the series by 2-0, after winning the last match by 38 runs, as with Babar tonne Men in Green posted 192/4 in 20 overs.
2/3 Both Committees thought matter merited discussion but both later came to the conclusion that the status quo should be retained. I have subsequently publicly stated this position. In the final analysis my decision will be subject to the success or failure of status quo.
— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) April 10, 2023
“He is using political languuage. He [Babar] is not the status quo. Babar is our main player and currently the number one batsman. Our success in winning matches over the past years has been largely due to Babar’s contributions. If he’s absent, we’re certain to lose, and if he fails to score, instead of drawing a red line around him, we should support and encourage him,” he concluded.
While Babar’s bat has been making runs in buckets, his captaincy has been a point of discussion amongst the Pakistani cricket community, as Pakistan was whitewashed by England in their home Test series, and Babar is yet to win any home Test series, but in his captaincy, Team Pakistan reached the finals of ICC T-20 World Cup 2022.
While, Pakistan will take on Tom Latham-led side for the next three clashes in the remaining 20 overs fixtures, on April 17, 20 & 24, as Pakistan is leading the series by 2-0, while Men in Green lost the last T-20I series against Afghanistan under Shadab Khan leadership. After the end of 20 overs fixture, the Kiwi side will play 5 ODIs in Pakistan starting on the 27 of this month.