Babar Azam: “Captaincy is a matter of honour for me. I will do whatever best I can for my country and for myself”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Babar Azam has made it clear that he has no plans to resign as Pakistan captain, even though there is mounting pressure on him.
Azam’s leadership has been called into question following Pakistan’s dismal home season, where they failed to win a single series.
They were whitewashed 3-0 by England in their Test series, while both their Tests against New Zealand ended as a draw. As for the three-match ODI series that followed, Pakistan were beaten 2-1.
This boosted speculation about a split captaincy being adopted, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet. With the clock potentially ticking for Azam, the 28-year-old has insisted that he still wants to continue leading the national team.
“Captaincy is a matter of honour for me. I will do whatever best I can for my country and for myself,” he was quoted as saying by Cricwick.
In the meantime, he will captain the Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which will take place from February 13 to March 19 in Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi.
Azam was traded to the Zalmi from the Karachi Kings in return for Pakistan batsman Haider Ali and all-rounder Shoaib Malik.
In fact, the Zalmi will kick off their PSL 8 campaign against the Kings on February 14 in Karachi.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 8:Â Babar Azam, Rovman Powell, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (Sri Lanka), Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz, Arshad Iqbal, Danish Aziz, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Saim Ayub, Salman Irshad, Usman Qadir, Haseebullah Khan, Sufyan Muqeem, James Neesham, Khurram Shahzad, Haris Sohail and Richard Gleeson