Babar Azam‘s drop in stocks has raised the eyebrows of several fans around the world. The limited-overs skipper is having a time to forget in the Test format. He has not scored a fifty or a hundred in the last 16 innings to compound more woes for the already struggling Pakistan team.
Babar had stepped down from his post of the all-format captain after his team’s dismal show in the Asia Cup and the ODI World Cup 2023. But he has now been reinstated as the white-ball skipper. Babar was first made the T20I captain in 2019 and took the all-format duties in 2020.
However, former Pakistan bowler Danish Kaneria believes that Babar should not have been made the skipper in the first place, saying that not every performer is captaincy material. “If a player is performing well that doesn’t mean he can captain the team. There is a difference between a captain and a performer. Not every performer can be given captaincy,” Kaneria said in an exclusive conversation with India TV.
He stated that the Lahore-born should have been allowed to play under Sarfaraz Ahmed. “Babar was a performer and was making vital contributions to the team with his batting prowess. He should not have been made captain. He was a run machine. The board should have allowed Babar to flourish under the leadership of Sarfaraz Ahmed,” he added.
For the unversed, Babar has been reappointed as the white-ball captain after his short absence at the top. While Shan Masood is the Test skipper, Pakistan’s decision to go with Shaheen Shah Afridi in the T20I format backfired with the Men in Green losing to New Zealand 4-1 in the bowler’s maiden full-time captaincy stint. Following this the team went to Babar again.
The white-ball skipper’s form in recent times is also a concern. He has punched below his weight in the Test format, while his stocks are not too great in the other two formats too. Kaneria shared a piece of advice on how the Pakistan star can regain his touch. “If you won’t play domestic cricket and go through that grind then you can’t succeed in Test cricket. Good back to school. Good back to the domestic circuit and score runs. You have to regain the touch and fitness. Go and play County cricket, play four-day cricket,” the former bowler said.
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