Mohammad Asif: “To be honest, we only have Babar Azam at this point. He is above captaincy, and he shouldn’t run after it. I don’t know why he is after captaincy. Babar Azam is currently the backbone; even if he steps out of the circle, he will manage”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif believes Babar Azam should not run after the captaincy as he is the “backbone” of the team and should be focused on scoring runs.
Azam currently leads the men in green in limited overs cricket, but his future as captain remains up in the air following the 2024 T20 World Cup, where Pakistan were eliminated in the group stage.
Asif admitted that he doesn’t understand why the 29-year-old has a fascination with the leadership role and insisted that he will “manage” if he is removed as captain.
“To be honest, we only have Babar Azam at this point. He is above captaincy, and he shouldn’t run after it. I don’t know why he is after captaincy. Babar Azam is currently the backbone; even if he steps out of the circle, he will manage,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam was Pakistan’s highest run-scorer in the T20 World Cup with 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
The men in green lost to the United States of America and India before fighting back to take down Canada and Ireland.
Despite ending the group stage with a 2-2 record, Pakistan were unable to progress to the Super Eights.
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
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