Shoaib Akhtar: “Even though he said he didn’t want captaincy of all formats and the board was insisting on him captaining Test matches, he shouldn’t have resigned, and he shouldn’t have been pushed out”
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Iconic Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar expressed his disappointment at the fact that Babar Azam was “pushed out” as captain.
Azam resigned from the leadership role in all three formats after Pakistan’s elimination from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
While reports state that he was offered the chance to continue as Test captain, the 29-year-old decided not to accept it.
However, Akhtar believes Azam should have held on to the Test captaincy instead of letting Shan Masood take over.
“I categorically say that in such a short time, he should not have been removed from the captaincy of Test matches. Even though he said he didn’t want captaincy of all formats and the board was insisting on him captaining Test matches, he shouldn’t have resigned, and he shouldn’t have been pushed out,” the Rawalpindi Express 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.
He is now representing Pakistan in their three-match Test series against Australia and has scored 77 runs in the first two Tests at an average of 19.25.
Pakistan are 2-0 down in the series and will be searching for a consolation win going into the third Test, which begins on January 3 in Sydney.
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