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Former Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Zaka Ashraf said that it was his idea to offer the red-ball captaincy of the Pakistan cricket team to Babar Azam. However, the star batter refused the offer stating that if he were to return as the captain, he would do it for every format rather than only one format. Azam stepped down from the captaincy across all the formats after a disappointing campaign at the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 held in India, and after him, Shaheen Shah Afridi took over.
However, just recently, the governing body decided to take away captaincy from the young bowler and give it to someone else. Amid all the fiasco, former PCB boss Zaka Ashraf revealed that it was he who offered the red-ball captaincy to Azam. Ashraf told the media, “I offered to retain Babar Azam as the captain for red-ball cricket, but we wanted to appoint a new captain for white-ball cricket. He responded by stating that if he were to be replaced as captain in one format, he would rather step down from captaincy in all formats.”
Ashraf added, “Following this, I suggested that he should focus on playing as a team member for Pakistan, as it was clear that he was finding it challenging to cope with the pressure of captaincy.”
After Azam was reappointed as the captain of the Pakistan team, Shaheen said, “I will always cherish the memories and the opportunity. As a team player, it is my duty to back our captain, Babar Azam. I have played under his captaincy and have nothing but respect for him. I will try to help him on and off the field.” Babar is all set to lead Pakistan in a five-match T20I series against New Zealand, which will begin on April 14 in Rawalpindi.
