Babar Azam confirmed as Pakistan's ODI captain

[ask_analyse_act]

Im not sure about the choice made here. But definitely he is the first name in the team sheet.
With the 2023 WC in mind i believe is the right decision and they shouldnt fallback to someone else at the last month before the WC which was a regular event for pakistan to do some knee jerk before the WC

 

[shamaan]

Hes got no wye on no.9 due to babar being captain or due to amir not getting contract ?

You said here misbah got his eyes on the no.9 ranking again I stated due to amir not getting contract then you stated

his all round uselessness. Babar becoming captain resolved itself as Azhar no longer plays ODIs. There's varying degrees of opinion as far as Amir's concerned bit it was clearly a vindictive step by the overlord.

So do you think misbah has his eyes on number 9 ranking due to amir and babar getting odi captain and amir not getting contractb

 

[shamaan]

Captains don't do well in our setup. Imran was an exception. I'm just worried that Babar's performances will dip after this promotion. Now he has to worry about others' games which ideally he is not responsible for.

He did well in the series against austrlia as a batesman and the team knows hes setting the bar high wiz his runs so might have a good effect on the rest williamson and kohli are captains for the countries

 

[shamaan]

Good decision. Why hide your only world class batsman from achieving higher ambition? At least Babar gets respect of the opposition and is an ICC top ranked batsman. That takes much higher priority over language/seniority gimmicks.

100 percent correct people on here saying he cant speak english or so on as long as he performs and wins matches I dont care about his language

 

[shamaan]

Imad or Shan indeed would've been much better options. Babar is our premier batsman and batting should be his only responsibility. He has enough things to worry about already.

Shan masood lool he isnt even a odi player is he going to get in the teams just based on captain kohli and Williamson are third counties best player so is babae so good decision

 

[shamaan]

Neither did Karunaratne, Alastair Cook and Azhar Ali. No harm in looking beyond the playing XI or squad to identify the best possible Captain if you feel he's got what it takes to lead well. George Bailey for example was made Captain on debut. Recently Pollard was appointed WI Captain having not been in WI World Cup squad or played an ODI for so long.

Wow good examples not. Have u seen thier team now since cook has left.azar had to step down hence why we won the champions trophy

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Azhar Ali as specialist ODI captain would have been the best option. Similar to his Test role

He needs to earn his spot in the team first lol.

Even after playing test cricket for 10 years him and shafiq doesn’t look to be the pricey wicket that the opponent want but Babar Azam at the crease looks threatening for the opponents as he will score runs and also looks a million dollar wicket that’s the difference set there

 

[Hasan123]

An excellent decision. Babar will lead by example with the bat and his work ethic. Hopefully he can be a good communicator. Another important of aspect of captaincy imo. He will have data people and coaching staff to help with tactics. And he will improve in this aspect with experience.

 

[transparent opacity]

although it is a sensible decision but the biggest concern is misbah. can babar assert his authority? he looks like a yes-man

 

[shamaan]

although it is a sensible decision but the biggest concern is misbah. can babar assert his authority? he looks like a yes-man

His a big player misbah wont get all his way trust me

 

[Suleiman]

There’s no other candidate who justifies his position as a player yet also has captaincy experience in the past and/or is young.

Best of luck brudda.

 

[CleverSir]

If you want my honest opinion, Babar will be more of a tactical leader than an Imran Khan. The team no doubt looks up to him but he doesn’t have the charisma.

What I think is the best option (and it also looks to be Misbah’s own plan) is that Shadab will be made the limited overs vice captain very soon. He is charismatic and leads from the front, and most importantly is in Misbah’s good books. Mickey had marked him as Pakistan’s future all format captain.

When Azhar retires (late 2021), Babar will be made test captain in addition to ODI captaincy. T20 captaincy will be given to Shadab. This will be the leadership until 2023.

After the 2023 World Cup, if we do well (semis at the very least) the structure will remain intact for another 2-3 years. If not, assuming he is still performing by then, Shadab will be made ODI captain in 2023.

If Babar does well with the captaincy and the team is winning (assuming they reach semis or further), Babar will be a powerful captain at that point then. No one is taking the captaincy away from a captain that is winning and taking control at the same time. Doesn't matter what Shadab is doing or is ready or not. Why would Babar (again, assuming he is batting well and the team is winning under him) give up that control and power to stamp his own authority over the team for the next World Cup in 2027? Babar is 24/25 now? so in 7 years at around 32/33 he could be either a powerful and successful captain or he will have lost his mandate and be the Tendulkar to this team. Personally I'm rooting for the former. I would like to see a Pakistani captain take charge over a longer period of time and stamp some authority and win like the Ponting's, Waugh's, or Imran's of the world.

 

[msb314]

Can’t believe some posters are asking Azhar Ali / Shan Masood to be made ODI Captain - yet alone even be in the ODI team lol

 

[sshakir411]

although it is a sensible decision but the biggest concern is misbah. can babar assert his authority? he looks like a yes-man

He is a complete “yes” man. Hopefully it doesn’t effect his batting otherwise we’ll lose our star batsman to stupid planing

 

[Thunderbolt14]

If Babar does well with the captaincy and the team is winning (assuming they reach semis or further), Babar will be a powerful captain at that point then. No one is taking the captaincy away from a captain that is winning and taking control at the same time. Doesn't matter what Shadab is doing or is ready or not. Why would Babar (again, assuming he is batting well and the team is winning under him) give up that control and power to stamp his own authority over the team for the next World Cup in 2027? Babar is 24/25 now? so in 7 years at around 32/33 he could be either a powerful and successful captain or he will have lost his mandate and be the Tendulkar to this team. Personally I'm rooting for the former. I would like to see a Pakistani captain take charge over a longer period of time and stamp some authority and win like the Ponting's, Waugh's, or Imran's of the world.

Yes exactly that’s what I meant. I hope this happens. But if for some reason we don’t make the semis on subcontinental tracks, there will be huge backlash because Pakistan is in the top 2
subcontinent teams. In that case Shadab will take over I think assuming he is performing

 

[coy0607]

He needs to earn his spot in the team first lol.

Even after playing test cricket for 10 years him and shafiq doesn’t look to be the pricey wicket that the opponent want but Babar Azam at the crease looks threatening for the opponents as he will score runs and also looks a million dollar wicket that’s the difference set there

same thing should apply to Test cricket then, no?

 

[BoomBoomCricket]

Biggest mistake PCB made in recent years was making Azhar captain in ODI's despite not even being worthy of a roster spot. It was a disaster and there is no way they should basically give up a roster spot to have an ideal captain on the team. Maybe if Pakistan was India/Australia/England who have an abundance of talent on their roster, they could justify have one weaker spot in XI but Pakistan cannot.

3 100s and 5 50s in 31 ODI innings as Captain.

He captained in 10 ODI series in a row running into the 2017 Champions Trophy after the 2015 World Cup. His contribution towards Pakistan’s win in that tournament can’t be underestimated. Not only his runs with the bat at the top of the innings, but his captaincy in helping Pakistan qualify for that tournament and build some confidence with series wins against Sri Lanka and West Indies under him and also importantly an ODI win in England at Cardiff where they ended up meeting England in the Champions Trophy semi final. Hasan Ali, Babar Azam and Imad Wasim all started and developed under Azhar.

He had a decent ODI record as Captain, winning half of his series and individually having a respectable average and strike rate while leading the ODI side. His removal was harsh. He had a tough schedule as ODI Captain with two series vs England’s strongest ODI team ever that went on to become world champions, a series in Bangladesh against Bangladesh’s strongest ever team and an away ODI series against the teams that played the 2015 World Cup final. Only those were the series he lost as skipper. His ODI record against everybody else and more realistic teams Pakistan could win against was pretty clinical i.e. series wins against West Indies, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Ireland.

The purpose of making him ODI Captain was to groom him as a successor for the longer form of the game.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

same thing should apply to Test cricket then, no?

Agreed, but at least Azhar has been a constant in the test team so it makes more sense. You can’t introduce Shan for the first time in years just to make him captain.

Ideally should have given test captaincy to Shan and removed Azhar+Shafiq but 2 wrongs don’t make a right. So making a young captain in Babar is the right move rather than onboarding more passengers

 

[Nasty Naz]

3 100s and 5 50s in 31 ODI innings as Captain.

He captained in 10 ODI series in a row running into the 2017 Champions Trophy after the 2015 World Cup. His contribution towards Pakistan’s win in that tournament can’t be underestimated. Not only his runs with the bat at the top of the innings, but his captaincy in helping Pakistan qualify for that tournament and build some confidence with series wins against Sri Lanka and West Indies under him and also importantly an ODI win in England at Cardiff where they ended up meeting England in the Champions Trophy semi final. Hasan Ali, Babar Azam and Imad Wasim all started and developed under Azhar.

He had a decent ODI record as Captain, winning half of his series and individually having a respectable average and strike rate while leading the ODI side. His removal was harsh. He had a tough schedule as ODI Captain with two series vs England’s strongest ODI team ever that went on to become world champions, a series in Bangladesh against Bangladesh’s strongest ever team and an away ODI series against the teams that played the 2015 World Cup final. Only those were the series he lost as skipper. His ODI record against everybody else and more realistic teams Pakistan could win against was pretty clinical i.e. series wins against West Indies, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Ireland.

The purpose of making him ODI Captain was to groom him as a successor for the longer form of the game.

He feasted in getting runs vs minnows but failed otherwise. And his SR was so low and lacked strike rotation/range of shots that Pakistan were consistently getting under par score. They even lost the series vs Bangladesh somehow.

As for CT, he had very little to do with it if we are being quite honest. Fakhar coming in after the beating India gave us was what changed everything since they finally had a quick attacking batsmen at the top order. Azhar best score came vs England when they were chasing a measly total of 212. His finals was probably his best knock but overall, it was Fakhar and the bowlers they were the defining factors in the tournament as the reason we won.

I look at the Australia tour that defined Azhar's captaincy where the matches he didn't play (2nd and 3rd ODI) were the only ones we had even a little chance of winning and one of them we did, which was under the captaincy of Hafeez if I recall correctly. Not to mention that England series was so dreadful that Wahab is probably still having nightmares about it.