Former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir has picked his choice of captaincy option for the Pakistan team across the format following the team’s poor performance in the ODI World Cup 2023 in India. Babar Azam’s captaincy skills came under the scanner following the Men In Green dismal show in the marquee event.
Babar Azam has recently been under fire from both fans and cricket pundits for his lackluster leadership skills and how it has affected his batting. The Men in Green has even failed to get to the Asia Cup final and semifinals of the ODI World Cup, largely due to the team combination and the Pakistan Cricket Board is likely to act on the matter soon before the 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy.
During a recent ODI World Cup special on a local television channel, Amir suggested a shift in the dynamics of the captaincy by proposing three replacements for current skipper Babar Azam across the formats.
“For the T20I format, with the T20 World Cup on the horizon and a series of T20 matches and a Test series against Australia lined up before the mega-event, I pick Imad Wasim, In ODI, if you want to change regime than Shan Masood can be a very good option,” Mohammad Amir said.
“If you want to prepare any youngster for Test captaincy, Sarfaraz still has 2 years left in cricket, so appoint him as the captain along with a youngster as vice-captain,” Mohammad Amir added.
Pakistan has had a dismal World Cup campaign, losing four of its first five games, including an unexpected one against Afghanistan. Even with victories over Bangladesh and New Zealand, they lost their final game against defending champions England and PCB is likely to take action on the team management following Pakistan’s performance in the event.
In addition to white-ball cricket, Babar Azam has had a lot of scrutiny regarding his Test captaincy. The 2021–23 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle saw Pakistan fail to win at home once under his direction, including a humiliating 3-0 rout against England at home conditions.
Pakistan is scheduled to travel to Australia right after the completion of the ODI World Cup. The team will be eyeing to develop a good team in focus with the forthcoming ICC events. Babar has had his opportunity to establish himself as the leader of the Pakistan team but he hasn’t done so while leading the team.
