Shoaib Malik: “I immediately would have resigned from the captaincy and directed all of my focus on my cricket”
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Veteran Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik has urged Babar Azam to resign as limited overs captain immediately.
His remarks come after the men in green were eliminated in the group stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Malik pointed out that he wants Azam to step down and focus on his batting as he has shown no improvement during his tenure as captain.
“I immediately would have resigned from the captaincy and directed all of my focus on my cricket. It happened to me once, and I was offered the role again in 2009-10, but I did not accept the offer. The reason was simple, I just wanted to focus on my cricket so if I were in his place, I would have resigned immediately,” the 42-year-old was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“I am not just saying this, my argument is backed by Babar’s numbers as captain, but I am willing to sideline the statistics. If he shows improvement and plays well for the country and team then he should definitely continue as captain. But there is no improvement.”
Azam was Pakistan’s highest run-scorer in the T20 World Cup as he made 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
The men in green began their campaign with back-to-back losses to the United States of America and India before rebounding to beat Canada and Ireland.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed