Kapil Dev: “If you say that Babar Azam is not the right choice [for captaincy] today, it is because you are looking at just his current performance. He was the same captain, who made Pakistan team No.1 [in ICC ODI rankings] six months ago”
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Legendary India all-rounder Kapil Dev has thrown his support behind Babar Azam, saying the frontline batsman should be captaining Pakistan.
Azam stepped down from the leadership role following the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he made 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
Kapil pointed out that people are simply judging the 29-year-old for his recent performances instead of assessing what Pakistan achieved during his three-year tenure as skipper.
“If you say that Babar Azam is not the right choice [for captaincy] today, it is because you are looking at just his current performance. He was the same captain, who made Pakistan team No.1 [in ICC ODI rankings] six months ago,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan won their first two World Cup games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they fought back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, it was not enough to earn them a spot in the semi-finals.
The men in green ended their campaign in disappointing fashion as England crushed them by 93 runs.
Azam will now be involved in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, which starts on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi