Manoj Tiwary: “I feel that Babar could have done better as captain”
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Former India batsman Manoj Tiwary believes Babar Azam “could have done better” as Pakistan captain.
Azam stepped down from the leadership role in all three formats after his side was eliminated from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
While the 29-year-old showed some improvement during his tenure as captain, Tiwary feels it was not enough as people had really high expectations of Azam.
“I feel that Babar could have done better as captain,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
In the World Cup, Azam scored 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
Pakistan began with wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before faltering against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they fought back to triumph over Bangladesh and New Zealand, it wasn’t enough to earn them a spot in the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign in dismal fashion as England crushed them by 93 runs.
Azam is now featuring 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 began 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, Mohammad Nawaz and Shaheen Shah Afridi