ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s star batsman Babar Azam has reportedly requested the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to appoint him as the captain of the national team across all three formats, ESPN Cricinfo reported on Friday.
According to the report, although the PCB has offered Babar Azam the captaincy for white-ball cricket once again, the talented 29-year-old has not yet accepted the proposal. Instead, Azam has expressed his desire to be named as the captain across all formats if he is to consider a return to the leadership role.
After the culmination of the ICC World Cup 2023, Babar Azam was relieved of his captaincy duties in all formats. Shaheen Afridi assumed the leadership for the shorter format, while Shan Masood was appointed as the Test captain. However, no captain was announced for the ODIs.
The decision to replace Shaheen Afridi as the captain in the shorter format came following Pakistan’s disappointing performance in the T20I series against New Zealand, which ended in a 4-1 defeat under Shaheen Afridi’s leadership.
In the red-ball format, Pakistan had only one series under Shan Masood’s captaincy against Australia in December 2023, resulting in a 3-0 loss to the Kangaroos.
Babar Azam has previously captained Pakistan in five international tournaments, including the T20 World Cup in 2021 and 2022, Asia Cup in 2022 and 2023, and the World Cup in 2023. However, Pakistan has failed to secure any ICC or Asia Cup titles under his leadership.
