Babar Azam says stepping down as captain from all formats

[ghazi52]

.,.,.

Babar Azam says stepping down as captain from all formats​

Dawn.com | Imran Siddique
November 15, 2023

Skipper Babar Azam has announced he is stepping down as captain from all cricket formats.

The announcement comes shortly after he met Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Interim Management Committee Chairman Zaka Ashraf in Lahore on Wednesday, following the cricket team’s dismal performance in the ICC World Cup.

Footage aired on television showed Babar’s car being hounded by fans and journalists as he left the PCB headquarters at the Gaddafi Stadium after meeting Ashraf.

Media reports suggested the meeting revolved around the future of Babar’s captaincy of the squad. Babar has been captain of the Test and ODI teams since 2020.

According to a Dawn.com correspondent, Ashraf also met team director Mickey Arthur, head coach Grant Bradburn and other members of the interim management committee.

The development comes after the cricket team’s disastrous performance in the World Cup, where the Green Shirts lost five of their nine games including a seven-wicket mauling by India in front of more than 100,000 fans in Ahmedabad. Pakistan also lost to Afghanistan for the first time.

Former captain Younis Khan and former pacers Wahab Riaz and Sohail Tanvir had met Ashraf on Tuesday as the PCB began its inquest on Pakistan’s performance at the World Cup and plans for the upcoming Test series against Australia.

It was learnt by Dawn that the trio had advised Ashraf not to make wholesale changes ahead of the tour of Australia.

With ODI cricket not high on the agenda for the next years, the former players had also instructed the PCB chief to shift focus to red-ball cricket and it was also learnt that Younis might be offered a coaching assignment to groom youngsters in Karachi.

It should be recalled that earlier this week bowling coach Morne Morkel had become the first man to quit Pakistan’s backroom staff following the team’s failure to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

Babar Azam says stepping down as captain from all formats

Announcement comes after meeting with PCB chief Zaka Ashraf.

www.dawn.com

 

[Asimzranger]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1716500266579636548

 

[SaadH]

Good, should have never been made a captain...and learning on the job, which he was never capable of doing in the first place, should not be done on the national duty.

Should have made his bones as a captain from U-19 onwards...

 

[Jango]

Pakistan Cricket going down the same route every other governmental agency has gone, into ruins.

Political interference will be the end of us all.

This reason for this world cup campaign is not Babar, it's Najam Sethi.

Why do Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf want to be chairmen? Wasim Khan and Ehsan Mani and even Ramiz had a great system in place, focussing on grassroots and developing a proper system. Misbah elaborated on it in his interview to Fakhar-e-Alam too.

Instead, we got a parachute coach who came in 2 days before the world cup.

Shambles.

Good, should have never been made a captain...and learning on the job, which he was never capable of doing in the first place, should not be done on the national duty.

Should have made his bones as a captain from U-19 onwards...

Ideally a player should already be earmarked in u-19 for the Pakistan team, but because we run our cricket on whims and not on any logic, we don't.

Dunya main sports aik high tech science ban chuki hai, and we still are stuck in the 20th century.

 

[SaadH]

Pakistan Cricket going down the same route every other governmental agency has gone, into ruins.

Political interference will be the end of us all.

This reason for this world cup campaign is not Babar, it's Najam Sethi.

Why do Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf want to be chairmen? Wasim Khan and Ehsan Mani and even Ramiz had a great system in place, focussing on grassroots and developing a proper system. Misbah elaborated on it in his interview to Fakhar-e-Alam too.

Instead, we got a parachute coach who came in 2 days before the world cup.

Shambles.



Ideally a player should already be earmarked in u-19 for the Pakistan team, but because we run our cricket on whims and not on any logic, we don't.

Dunya main sports aik high tech science ban chuki hai, and we still are stuck in the 20th century.

True, but Babar played his part as well, by being an incompetent buffoon who doesn't know the first thing about captaining and secondly by forcing selection of family and friends despite their repeated failures over the past year. And his batting has always been over-rated, always goes missing in pressure multi-team tournaments.

 

[Jango]

True, but Babar played his part as well, by being an incompetent buffoon who doesn't know the first thing about captaining and secondly by forcing selection of family and friends despite their repeated failures over the past year. And his batting has always been over-rated, always goes missing in pressure multi-team tournaments.

I don't disagree with those things. But the solution is not to simply change the captain.

 

[PakAlp]

Pakistan Cricket going down the same route every other governmental agency has gone, into ruins.

Political interference will be the end of us all.

This reason for this world cup campaign is not Babar, it's Najam Sethi.

Why do Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf want to be chairmen? Wasim Khan and Ehsan Mani and even Ramiz had a great system in place, focussing on grassroots and developing a proper system. Misbah elaborated on it in his interview to Fakhar-e-Alam too.

Instead, we got a parachute coach who came in 2 days before the world cup.

Shambles.

Ideally a player should already be earmarked in u-19 for the Pakistan team, but because we run our cricket on whims and not on any logic, we don't.

Dunya main sports aik high tech science ban chuki hai, and we still are stuck in the 20th century.

Big money and betting is involved this is why, otherwise the politicians wouldn't have any interest. I still remember when they forced Waqar Younis to retire at 31, he could have easily beaten Wasim Akram record, what a bowler. Regarding Pakistan cricket, its the same as our nation, rotten to the core. Our domestic cricket needs to be improved and competitive, our international cricket management should be all professionals. It can take decades to fix a team. Its not about winning world cups but trying your level best to achieve success, we can certainly do 100% better at all sports.

 

[-=virus=-]

Did wonders for Kohli, good move. He did seem weighed down with it all and was probably negatively impacting his performances... Go back to being a pure bat Babar, good luck !

 

[PakAlp]

Did wonders for Kohli, good move. He did seem weighed down with it all and was probably negatively impacting his performances... Go back to being a pure bat Babar, good luck !

For some reason Pakistan always selects the best player for captaincy, they should concentrate on the skills. A skilled captain can win matches with his decisions.

 

[Smoke]

I don't see what the fuss is actually about?

ICC World Cup 2015 Semi-finalists
-----------------------------------------------------
South Africa vs New Zealand

Australia vs India


ICC World Cup 2019 Semi-finalists
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Australia vs England

New Zealand vs India


ICC World Cup 2023 Semi-finalists
------------------------------------------------------
India vs New Zealand

South Africa vs Australia


Pakistan's performance has been exactly the same in the past 3 world cups. Neither worse, neither better.

I think we really need to improve our training regimes, and also introduce high-pressure mental training.

 

[ghazi52]

.,.,.

Shan Masood appointed Test captain, Shaheen to lead Pakistan in T20Is​

BR
November 15, 2023

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the appointment of Shan Masood as the Test captain and Shaheen Afridi as the T20Is.

The board announced the development in a post on social media platform X - formerly Twitter.

Shan has been appointed captain till the end of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25. His first assignment will be a three-match Test series against Australia starting from December 14.

Meanwhile, Shaheen will lead Pakistan Men’s Team in the T20I format and his first assignment will be the five-match T20I series in New Zealand from January 12 to 21 January. The 23-year-old quick has bagged 64 wickets in 52 T20Is.

Shaheen has also captained Lahore Qalandars in PSL and has helped the side win the tournament twice in two years in the 2022 and 2023 editions.

The move comes shortly after Babar Azam stepped down as-format captain, following a humiliating World Cup campaign.

He was under fire after Pakistan failed to perform in the Asia Cup and continued the same momentum into the World Cup — where they crashed out before reaching the semis.

 

[-=virus=-]

.,.,.

Shan Masood appointed Test captain, Shaheen to lead Pakistan in T20Is​

BR
November 15, 2023


View attachment 1019610

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the appointment of Shan Masood as the Test captain and Shaheen Afridi as the T20Is.

The board announced the development in a post on social media platform X - formerly Twitter.

Shan has been appointed captain till the end of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25. His first assignment will be a three-match Test series against Australia starting from December 14.

Meanwhile, Shaheen will lead Pakistan Men’s Team in the T20I format and his first assignment will be the five-match T20I series in New Zealand from January 12 to 21 January. The 23-year-old quick has bagged 64 wickets in 52 T20Is.

Shaheen has also captained Lahore Qalandars in PSL and has helped the side win the tournament twice in two years in the 2022 and 2023 editions.

The move comes shortly after Babar Azam stepped down as-format captain, following a humiliating World Cup campaign.

He was under fire after Pakistan failed to perform in the Asia Cup and continued the same momentum into the World Cup — where they crashed out before reaching the semis.

And 50 captain ? Also shaheen ?

 

[Jango]

And 50 captain ? Also shaheen ?

I don't think we have any ODI for the next 8 months or something.

 

[ghazi52]

.,.,

PCB, not Babar, should take the heat for Pakistan’s World Cup debacle​

‘What exactly is going on with the PCB?’ is one question we should all ask.

Syed Muhammad Zaid
November 16, 2023

The lacklustre performance that we saw during Pakistan’s World Cup campaign has sent the ‘bleed green’ fanbase into an abyss, akin to the Green Shirts’ unceremonious exit in 2015’s World Cup.

A team reshuffle and ‘where we go from here’ promises are always a typical approach to failed tournaments, but as a fan, I am fed up with how the players take the flak but never the cricket board.

Yesterday, top-order batter Babar Azam announced that he had stepped down as the Pakistan cricket captain in all formats. Babar didn’t mention a specific reason for his decision but it comes on the heels of the team’s disastrous run in the ICC World Cup in India.

The poor performances have been deconstructed and dissected ad nauseam over the past few weeks. There is no need for another play-by-play of how badly the Green Shirts performed in the World Cup.

But what is needed is to pin some of the blame on the PCB. While the team shoulders the responsibility for its performance in the World Cup, the PCB is not blameless and has played the biggest part in our failure in the event.

Pakistan have already announced replacements for Babar in the Test and T20 side, with Shan Masood as the captain for the red ball and Shaheen Shah Afridi to lead the side in the shortest format of the game. There are no questions regarding Shaheen’s ability to lead the T20 side having won two back-to-back PSL trophies with Lahore Qalandar. But a complete upheaval every four years cannot be the answer to Pakistan’s problem.

What exactly is going on with the PCB?​

This is one question that we should all ask. The board had backed Babar as skipper since April but suddenly looked to cut its losses when things began taking a turn for the worse.

After Pakistan’s three consecutive losses in the World Cup, the PCB issued a very questionably timed press release. When the team was already under pressure, why did the board feel it important to say that Babar and then-chief selector Inzamamul Haq were “given freedom and support” in forming the squad for the World Cup? They should be given “freedom and support” to pick the team but it is a stretch to imply that they alone are responsible for what happens on the field.

Also, the PCB said that it would make decisions in the best interest of Pakistan cricket going forward. Shouldn’t that have always been the board’s first priority? It’s not exactly unheard of for a sports board to make decisions for the betterment of the sport it represents.

Let’s return to the PCB’s handling of controversies which occurred during the World Cup.
Inzamam stepped down as chief selector after media reports claimed he had a stake in a player’s management company registered with the PCB. The whole fiasco took place when Pakistan were still in the fight for the last semi-final spot. As Inzamam himself pointed out, the allegations against him could have been investigated after the tournament.

At the same time, Babar’s private WhatsApp conversations were leaked on television, in a gross violation of the batter’s privacy. According to the host of the talk show, the PCB chief Zaka Ashraf himself allegedly gave permission to display the messages. Logically, the board should have come out and defended a player’s right to privacy. But we have the PCB chief himself giving permission to violate a player’s privacy.

So my question now is: after Babar Azam — one of Pakistan’s greatest-ever batters — stepped down as captain, will Zaka Ashraf consider following suit?

 

[ghazi52]

.,.,.,

Babar Azam’s captaincy raised questions, but his class remains beyond doubt​

The new Pakistan captain should embrace Babar into the team, setting aside past grudges.

Babar’s exit​

Editorial November 16, 2023

IN the end, the pressure finally told. There had been a substantial amount of it, gargantuan almost around Babar Azam and his role as the captain of the Pakistan team. The side’s limp World Cup exit was the final straw with Babar announcing yesterday he was stepping down as Pakistan’s all-format captain.

For Pakistan’s star batter, their mainstay, it’s perhaps the best decision; a chance to be away from the continuous glare and focus on what he does best.

Batting greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli thrived without the burden of captaincy and Babar has expressed he would like to be in the team as a player. But the way it has come about, the circumstances around it, were far from ideal.

Throughout Pakistan’s World Cup campaign in India, there has been a smear campaign against Babar, almost villainising him for Pakistan’s underwhelming performances.

Not even the Pakistan Cricket Board spared him, sending out a statement during Pakistan’s run of four straight losses at the tournament that Babar and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq had been given a free hand to choose who they wanted in the team.

Accusations of favouritism had been rampant, Babar’s contemporaries who were not in the side continued to spew fire against him. It was widely reported that the PCB was trying to force Babar out.

It was in the backdrop of all this that Babar met PCB’s interim management committee chairman Zaka Ashraf on Wednesday. The spotlight was sharp, every move being scrutinised as Babar came to Gaddafi Stadium. As he left, cricketers at the adjoining National Cricket Academy chanted slogans in his favour.

During his time as captain, Babar has divided opinion but there remains no doubt that he remains Pakistan’s batting mainstay. There were questions over his decision-making as captain but there are no questions about his class.

And therefore whoever becomes the new captain, regardless of past grudges, should welcome Babar with open arms into the team. The inquest will continue in the coming days with the future of team director Mickey Arthur also to be decided.

Chief selector Inzamam had already resigned during the World Cup after a potential conflict of interest investigation was opened. Pakistan cricket seems to be headed for a fresh start but the PCB also needs to learn from its recent mistakes. The best players should be lionised instead of villainised.