Shoaib Akhtar: “They should have given him (Azam) 1.5 months without saying a word, but the board didn’t do that. We are experts in removing someone from their position and this is how the entire management of Pakistan works, just remove and banish”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan pace icon Shoaib Akhtar believes the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should have let Babar Azam continue as captain for six weeks before announcing his replacements.
Akhtar admitted he was less than impressed at how the PCB immediately named Azam’s successors after he stepped down as captain following the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Top order batsman Shan Masood took over as Test captain, while pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi was appointed T20I skipper.
“They should have given him (Azam) 1.5 months without saying a word, but the board didn’t do that. We are experts in removing someone from their position and this is how the entire management of Pakistan works, just remove and banish,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
During the World Cup, Azam amassed 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
He is now in action in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia and made scores of 21 and 14 in the first Test in Perth, which Pakistan lost by 360 runs.
The second Test will begin on December 26 in Melbourne.
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
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