Babar Azam lays down conditions before accepting Pakistan captaincy

After Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup 2023, Babar Azam relinquished his position as the captain of the team. He was massively criticised by multiple former cricketers as Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood were named the new captains of the T20I and Test sides respectively. However, neither of the new leaders could impress the new think tank, which has brought them back to Babar as they approached him to take over captaincy yet again.

Ahead of doing so, the star batter has laid down certain conditions, including a say in the appointment of the new head coach. The 29-year-old also conveyed to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that he wants to lead the national team in all three formats of the game. However, his demands have not been accepted as the national selection committee is currently divided on the issue.

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A portion of the committee is against the idea of giving Babar absolute power as they want Shaheen Shah Afridi to continue as T20I skipper. However, under Afridi’s leadership, Pakistan lost to New Zealand 4-1, which forced the other half of the committee to think on a different line, especially with the T20 World Cup approaching. However, many are backing Afridi and want him to lead the team in the home series against Kiwis.

“Some members of the selection committee now feel the best thing is to let Shaheen Shah Afridi continue as captain for the home T20 series against New Zealand in April and give him a chance to prove his credentials,” one well-informed source was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

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Interestingly, PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi isn’t ready to wait and has asked the selection committee to have a meeting with Babar and convince him of the white-ball captaincy. However, Naqvi isn’t ready to push the batter as red-ball captain yet but is ready to have a discussion later on.

“They made their opinions clear to the PCB chief and have now asked him to make a final call and Naqvi has told them to convince Babar to accept the white ball captaincy for now and the Board will take a call on the red ball captaincy after the T20 World Cup,” the source added.