Shoaib Malik: “I gave an opinion in the past as well that Babar Azam should leave captaincy. This is my personal opinion. Babar does not think out of the box as a captain”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik pointed out that he previously wanted Babar Azam gone as captain since he couldn’t “think out of the box.”
Azam resigned from the leadership role in all three formats after Pakistan were eliminated from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Top order batsman Shan Masood replaced him as Test captain, while pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi was named T20I skipper.
Malik is glad that Azam is no longer in charge of the men in green as he felt the 29-year-old just didn’t have what it took to be a great leader.
“I gave an opinion in the past as well that Babar Azam should leave captaincy. This is my personal opinion. Babar does not think out of the box as a captain,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
In the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, which was Azam’s last assignment as captain, he accumulated 320 runs in nine matches, which included four half-centuries, at an average of 40.
Pakistan won their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before stumbling against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
They stopped their four-game losing streak with back-to-back victories over Bangladesh and New Zealand, but it was not enough to get them a spot in the semi-finals.
To add insult to injury, Pakistan lost to England by 93 runs in their final group stage game.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali
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