Kamran Akmal: “Babar has made a very good decision to quit captaincy in all formats”
Image courtesy of: Unsplash
Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal said Babar Azam “made a very good decision” to step down as captain in all three formats.
Azam made the decision after Pakistan were eliminated from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Top order batsman Shan Masood replaced the 29-year-old as Test captain, while pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi was appointed T20I skipper.
“Babar has made a very good decision to quit captaincy in all formats,” Akmal, who was recently appointed as a consultant member to Pakistan chief selector Wahab Riaz, was quoted as saying by A Sports.
Azam recently scored 126 runs at an average of 21 in the three-match Test series against Australia, which Pakistan lost 3-0.
He looked a lot better in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand as he amassed 213 runs, which included three fifties, at an average of 42.60 and a strike-rate of 142.
Azam will now captain the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), which gets underway on February 17.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 9: Babar Azam (captain), Rovman Powell, Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Khurram Shahzad (partially available), Arshad Iqbal, Haseebullah, Gus Atkinson (partially available), Asif Ali, Naveen-ul-Haq (reserved), Salman Irshad, Arif Yaqoob, Umair Afridi, Dan Mousley, Mohammad Zeeshan, Waqar Salamkheil, Mehran Mumtaz, Luke Wood, Sufyan Muqeem, Shamar Joseph
[TS_Poll id=”111″]