Ramiz Raja: “I believe in [an] authoritative captain but Babar Azam has to bring improvement in his captaincy”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja said Babar Azam needs to improve his captaincy skills by being more authoritative.
His comments come after Pakistan endured a disappointing home season, where they failed to beat both England and New Zealand.
The men in green were whitewashed 3-0 in their Test series against England, while their two Tests against New Zealand ended as a draw. As for the three-match ODI series that followed, the Black Caps triumphed 2-1.
If Pakistan are to improve, Ramiz pointed out that Azam has to start putting his foot down and being more assertive as the team’s leader.
“I believe in [an] authoritative captain but Babar Azam has to bring improvement in his captaincy,” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam was in good form throughout Pakistan’s home season as he scored 348 runs against England, which included a century and three fifties, at an average of 58.
He followed that up with 226 runs in the two Tests against New Zealand, which included a top score of 161, at an average of 56.50.
The 28-year-old then finished off with 149 runs in the three ODIs, which included two fifties, at an average of 49.66.
Azam will be looking to maintain his good form with the bat in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he will captain the Peshawar Zalmi. He was traded to the franchise from the Karachi Kings in exchange for Haider Ali and Shoaib Malik.
The Zalmi will kick off their PSL 8 campaign with a clash against the Kings on February 14 in Karachi.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 8: 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