• Sportzyverse
• Cricket news, T20 World Cup 2024
• 03/30/2024
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Following Pakistan’s failure to advance to the ODI World Cup 2023 semi-finals, Babar Azam decided to step down from his role as the team’s captain. His decision drew significant criticism from several former cricketers. Subsequently, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood were appointed as the new T20I and Test sides captains, respectively. However, both new leaders failed to impress the new management, prompting them to again approach Babar to resume captaincy.

Before accepting the role, Babar laid down certain conditions, one of which was to have a say in the selection of the new head coach. Additionally, the 29-year-old expressed his desire to lead the national team in all three formats of the game. However, his demands were met with resistance as the national selection committee remained divided on the matter.

Update: The selectors are on their way to Kakul, Abbottabad to convince Babar Azam to take only T20I captaincy. Babar wants to become captain of all three formats and also wants certain conditions to be met 🇵🇰🤯

A press conference on this decision is imminent [Express News] pic.twitter.com/QNImv2qPIe

— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) March 30, 2024

“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.

Also read Pakistan’s Mohammad Amir Comes Out of Retirement Ahead of T20 World Cup

PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi, however, was not willing to wait and urged the selection committee to meet with Babar and persuade him to accept the white-ball captaincy. While Naqvi was not yet prepared to appoint Babar as the red-ball captain, he expressed openness to discussing the matter at a later stage.

“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.