Babar Azam: We can once again see something big in Pakistan cricket. According to the latest reports, star batsman Babar Azam is all set to take charge of Pakistan's Test team once again. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi has reportedly given his approval to this move. This decision has been taken after the recent disappointing performance of the Pakistan team in the Test format and the continuous criticism of Shan Masood's captaincy.
The journey as captain has been very bad for Shan Masood, who will take command of the Test team in December 2023. Under his leadership, Pakistan has faced defeat in 12 out of 16 test matches played. Pakistan had toured Bangladesh in May this year. On this tour, Pakistan had to face a clean sweep in the 2-match Test series. After this crushing defeat, serious questions were raised among the board and former cricketers regarding Masood's captaincy and his poor batting form.
According to reports, Masood himself is quite disappointed with this performance and is considering taking up a permanent administrative role in the PCB like Director of International Cricket and Player Affairs after the current cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC), which has already been offered to him by the Board President.
Considering the current situation, some PCB officials and teammates are in favor of making Babar Azam the Test captain again. The board believes that this is the right time to hand over the captaincy to Babar for the remaining matches of the World Test Championship. Let us tell you, Babar Azam has previously been the captain of Pakistan in all three formats between 2019 and 2023. He left the captaincy after poor performance in the 2023 ODI World Cup held in India. Later he was again made the white ball captain for the 2024 T20 World Cup, but there too he resigned after being eliminated from the group stage. Now his return to red-ball cricket is being seen as a big change to bring the Pakistan team back on track.
