Gary Kirsten's critical T20 World Cup report forced Babar Azam to resign as Pakistan Captain

Team Pakistan's premier batter and the former limited-overs Captain, Babar Azam, reportedly lost his enthusiasm in leading the side after the white-ball coach Gary Kirsten submitted a detailed report on the T20 World Cup debacle to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Notably, it was revealed that in that report, the legendary South African had criticized the way Azam led the national outfit.

As a result, few insiders claimed that in the aftermath of this report, Babar was seemingly unhappy with the recommendations and observations put forth by the new coach of the Green Shirts. Not just that, the assistant coach, Azhar Mahmood, believed that only the skipper was being treated like a scapegoat for the World Cup debacle. Eventually, after the report came out in the public domain, Babar Azam expressed his intentions to the board about not carrying forward his captaincy for long in the coming times ahead.

"Babar was not happy with the observations and recommendations of Kirsten and even assistant coach, Azhar Mahmood and felt he was solely being blamed for the disappointing performances. He had indicated to the cricket board after some parts of Kirsten’s report became public that he was not interested in remaining captain," an insider was quoted as saying by India Today.

Reacting to the criticism as per the submitted report, the former Pakistan Captain approached some officials of the PCB and complained that the board failed to consider his past performances and achievements apart from showing a lack of trust and confidence in him. Besides, another insider claimed that it was time for the premier batter to step away from the leadership role after he was not appointed as Captain for the ODI format barring the T20I format where he was duly announced as the skipper for the T20 World Cup event.

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Furthermore, Gary Kirsten also shed light on the environment within the camp in terms of the dressing room and the unwanted behaviour of some players during the England series and the World Cup event which took place in West Indies. Moreover, he also gave his opinion on how Babar had performed as a leader under high-pressure situations as well. At this stage, the PCB is in wait-and-watch mode before naming a new Captain of Pakistan in the white-ball cricket. In fact, the board has thrown the ball in the head coach and the selectors court to finalise a leader for the team soon.

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"Chairman, Mohsin Naqvi has made it clear he wants minutes of all official discussions by the selection committee that includes both foreign head coaches to be recorded so that a clear reason is on record for making the appointment," the insider concluded.