Babar Azam's numbers as captain tell a story: Ex-skipper Shoaib Malik

Pakistan's campaign in the T20 World Cup 2024 ended with a narrow three-wicket win over Ireland. Losing two of their four group-stage matches, the Men in Green failed to qualify for the Super Eights, resulting in one of the worst campaigns in their T20 World Cup history.

Following Pakistan’s early exit from the marquee event, their former captain Shoaib Malik criticised Babar Azam’s captaincy and his failure to lead the team from the front. Malik, who captained Pakistan in the first edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007, says that if he had been in Babar's shoes, he would have resigned from the role to focus more on his batting.

Speaking to Ten Sports, Malik opined that the responsibility of captaincy has affected Babar's batting performance. “I think I would immediately resign from captaincy and focus on my cricket,” he said.

The veteran all-rounder said he was offered the captaincy again but turned it down as he wanted to contribute more as a player. Notably, Babar was reinstated as Pakistan's white-ball captain earlier this year after the 29-year-old resigned from the role following the team's poor performance in the ODI World Cup last year.

Also Read: Reappointing Babar Azam as skipper was worst decision by PCB: Ahmed Shehzad

“This had happened with me when I was offered the captaincy again for a year around 2009-10, but I denied it because I just wanted to focus on my cricket. I am not just saying for the sake of it. His numbers also tell a story,” Malik added.

Babar hasn't improved as a leader: Malik

Looking at the batting stats of Babar, the right-hander averages 48.48 in 38 T20 innings as non-skipper. With leadership responsibility, the number drops to 37.28 in 77 innings so far.

The veteran all-rounder also pointed out that Babar did not make significant achievements or improvements in his captaincy. The Sialkot-born noted that Babar did not deserve to continue as the captain of the national team, as he had led the team in several major tournaments and failed to live up to expectations.

Also read: Babar Azam likely to continue as captain after Pakistan's lacklustre outing in T20 World Cup 2024

“If there was any improvement as a leader of the team, then definitely he should have continued. But there hasn't been any. Captain is the one who gets the best out of players. He captained in three T20 World Cups, an ODI World Cup and two Asia Cups and won nothing,” the 42-year-old concluded.