‘Babar Azam is the same captain who made them No. 1' - Kapil Dev defends Pakistan skipper

After Pakistan’s exit from the ODI World Cup 2023, skipper Babar Azam has faced the wrath of the former cricketers, with many wanting him to step down as the leader of the team. Notably, Pakistan managed to win only four matches in the marquee tournament and finished fifth on the points table. They started well with two back-to-back wins but lost four matches in a row, which made things complex.

However, amid all the negative talks, former India skipper Kapil Dev has defended Babar Azam and reminded that the 29-year-old played a massive part in helping Pakistan be the No. 1 ranked team in ODI cricket in the recent past. He added that the selectors shouldn’t go with the current performance solely and to monitor his performance in crunch situations before taking a final call.

“Today you will say Babar is not performing well because you are seeing the current situation. But the same captain made Pakistan the number-one team six months back. When someone makes zero, 99% of people will say drop him and will back an ordinary player who scores a century saying, he is the next superstar," Kapil was quoted as saying by My Khel.

“So don't go with current performances. Look at how he has approached the game, how he plays in tough situations is how a player should be judged rather than one or two low scores," he added.

However, as per reports, Babar is likely to be sacked as Pakistan skipper in the coming days. Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi are currently the favourites to replace him.

Notably, Shaheen has a stellar record as captain in the Pakistan Super League, while Rizwan too has done a good job. Meanwhile, it needs to be seen if Babar is sacked from all three formats of the game or only from ODIs. 

The team will travel to Australia next to play a three-match Test series and then will travel to New Zealand for a five-match T20I series. Hence, a lot more will come to light in the next few days.