[EXCLUSIVE] "People keep questioning Babar Azam as captain, I think he is an excellent captain": Dominic Cork

[The Bald Eagle]

Although the first T20I between Pakistan and England at Leeds was washed out, Saj was able to catch up with Dominic Cork. The former England pacer and prominent commentator discussed his stint covering the PSL, Pakistan's recent performances, and predictions for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Some of the main things discussed during the interview:

Introduction and Love for Pakistan: discusses his experiences in Pakistan, particularly focusing on the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and his interactions with Pakistani fans.

Quality of PSL: acknowledges the high quality of PSL by comparing it to other leagues like IPL, noting the caliber of players and competitiveness.

T20 Series and World Cup Predictions: Analyzed England and Pakistan's strengths for the upcoming T20 series considering player experiences from IPL and PSL. He predicts the 4 Semi-finalists for the T20 World Cup, with England emerging as the winners.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Cork is an excellent commentator and for him to lavish praise on Babar Azam's captaincy in this manner says a lot. But still I believe Rizwan is a better candidate for this role.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Its really good to see Cork admiring the PSL talent and comparing it with big leagues like the IPL. Hopefully we'll see him back in Pakistan very soon perhaps in some coaching role.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Babar is a good captain for bilateral series, but for mega events, he is a choker.

 

[Shoaib Akhtar 100 MPH]

Babar is a poor captain because he s rigid in his thinking and doesn't change or adapt to a situation on any given day.

He will bowl the specialist even if their having an off day and not try things.

Shadab vs ireland going for 50 odd in four overs being case and point rather than using Saim or Ifti for an over or 2.

Captaincy is about being bold and brave and creating a situation in your favour with your resources in mind.

An example

A lot of people criticise Rauf which has some merit but people with deep understanding of the game know that a captain knowing how to use a bowler like Rauf is your match winner and a lethal weapon.

Give a Shane Warne a Rauf and it would be a different result.

We have seen how costly its been in terms of conceding matches from winning positions.

Inzi was another who couldn't use Sami effectively in his pomp with his poor captaincy.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Always good to listen to Cork .

 

[Saj]

PSL matches in England !

Wow that would be interesting and I'm sure you'd get packed houses.

Pakistani and non-Pakistani fans would pack the stadiums out.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Babar is a pretty old-school captain TBH. He has not changed anything in his captaincy from his first stint as a captain. Not having a good time so far. Draws the series at home against New Zealand where he should have won it and then lost a game against Ireland.

Cork might have praised Babar but deep down he also knows that things are not looking good for Babar.

 

[pratiktc]

It is a very subjective thing to assess a captain.
Apart from onfield aspect of tactics; there is also requirement of being a good off field manager of players/media/coaching staff/adminstrators.

As fans we can only assess on field aspect fairly.

We should acknowledge that being an average on field captain is quite straightforward. With a good coach and a decent team it is safe and easy for a captain to stick to pre-arranged and thought out strategies and evaluate spot inputs from coaching staff/senior players during game breaks.

It is also very hard to be a particularly good or particularly bad captain since both require having the personality and ability to deviate from set plans and overrule other opinions.

At the most recent ICC event we saw 10 captains lead their teams over a span of 9 matches in diff conditions, against diff oppositions and in diff situations. In my view as tacticians Rohit Sharma and Scott Edwards stood out from the pack as bold, assertive and flexible leaders with clear thought processes. Cummins was behind them with good bowler management skills.

The rest all were ho hum but I would honestly rate Babar among the bottom 2-3 with Bavuma because he failed to select the right teams (Fakhar kept out), he kept sticking to rote strategies of using Haris in PP as first change when he was clearly having confidence issues. The teams batting plans seemed static and incapable of match situation adjustment.

Having bad results doesn't mean you should terminate a captain. Jos Buttler had a bad tournament with his team but you could see Eng trying to switch things up with bowling combinations and batting orders trying to make something happen.

I rate Babar as a poor captain because I see no capacity in him to improve tactically. He will adequately handle good resources but doesn't have the speculative daring of say a McCullum to gamble an extended spell in hope of bowling a team out nor does he have the nous of a Fleming to stretch and cover the clear weak links in a team. Neither does he have conviction of say a Dhoni to extensively back developing players like Rohit/Jadeja against popular media and backroom opinion.

He is the captain Pakistan doesn't deserve but maybe the one it needs as a new chairman and board try to establish themselves.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Issues which i have observed in Babar Azam's captaincy is that he struggles with team selection based on the situation. He seems unsure which bowler to deploy in specific situations, which fielder to utilize in key positions, and where to bat himself permanently. Additionally, he appears stubborn in his decisions, trying to prove them right, and this indecision often leaves him in a dilemma.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Corky is pulling our leg about Babars captaincy

 

[Asad T]

It is a very subjective thing to assess a captain.
Apart from onfield aspect of tactics; there is also requirement of being a good off field manager of players/media/coaching staff/adminstrators.

As fans we can only assess on field aspect fairly.

We should acknowledge that being an average on field captain is quite straightforward. With a good coach and a decent team it is safe and easy for a captain to stick to pre-arranged and thought out strategies and evaluate spot inputs from coaching staff/senior players during game breaks.

It is also very hard to be a particularly good or particularly bad captain since both require having the personality and ability to deviate from set plans and overrule other opinions.

At the most recent ICC event we saw 10 captains lead their teams over a span of 9 matches in diff conditions, against diff oppositions and in diff situations. In my view as tacticians Rohit Sharma and Scott Edwards stood out from the pack as bold, assertive and flexible leaders with clear thought processes. Cummins was behind them with good bowler management skills.

The rest all were ho hum but I would honestly rate Babar among the bottom 2-3 with Bavuma because he failed to select the right teams (Fakhar kept out), he kept sticking to rote strategies of using Haris in PP as first change when he was clearly having confidence issues. The teams batting plans seemed static and incapable of match situation adjustment.

Having bad results doesn't mean you should terminate a captain. Jos Buttler had a bad tournament with his team but you could see Eng trying to switch things up with bowling combinations and batting orders trying to make something happen.

I rate Babar as a poor captain because I see no capacity in him to improve tactically. He will adequately handle good resources but doesn't have the speculative daring of say a McCullum to gamble an extended spell in hope of bowling a team out nor does he have the nous of a Fleming to stretch and cover the clear weak links in a team. Neither does he have conviction of say a Dhoni to extensively back developing players like Rohit/Jadeja against popular media and backroom opinion.

He is the captain Pakistan doesn't deserve but maybe the one it needs as a new chairman and board try to establish themselves.

He also kept playing his Dosti XI and kept useless players like Mohammad Nawaz and Hassan Ali for faaaar too long and excluded people like Imad and Amir. And I agree with you, he is a horrible tactician. He also lacks charisma.

 

[Saj]

As I have said before, captains should improve, learn from their mistakes.

Sadly Babar seems to be stuck at a level regarding captaincy and tactics.

My fear is that he will fail again as skipper at the T20 World Cup.

 

[Professionalismandflair]

As I have said before, captains should improve, learn from their mistakes.

Sadly Babar seems to be stuck at a level regarding captaincy and tactics.

My fear is that he will fail again as skipper at the T20 World Cup.

He’s not cut out for the job

 

[The Bald Eagle]

This is the last chance for Babar Azam to prove us all wrong and Cork right which I highly doubt he would do.

 

[Human786]

Babar is a good captain for bilateral series, but for mega events, he is a choker.

FR , Babar is a average skipper & Cork is being rather kind imo !

 

[Human786]

This is the last chance for Babar Azam to prove us all wrong and Cork right which I highly doubt he would do.

can we have the Poke feature here like Facebook biradar

 

[Saj]

I'd like to know from PCB what were the reasons he was brought back as skipper.

Is he any better than Shaheen? Did he improve in the time he was not the skipper?

 

[Savak]

I'd like to know from PCB what were the reasons he was brought back as skipper.

Is he any better than Shaheen? Did he improve in the time he was not the skipper?

Javed Afridis and Peshawar Zalmis lobbying. PSL franchises should be kept far away from PCB affairs

 

[BouncerGuy]

I'd like to know from PCB what were the reasons he was brought back as skipper.

Is he any better than Shaheen? Did he improve in the time he was not the skipper?

There was no reason to make Babar captain again. It was just PR and social media pressure IMO. He is not better than anybody atm. Rizwan should have been made captain after Babar was removed but they went for Shaheen so they should have put some faith in him. Remvoing him after just 1 series was not fair and it is not like Babar has done something new this time. He is as bad as a captain as he was before, might be worse.

 

[Shaheenthefalcon]

Who is this guy with cap on? Lol

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Javed Afridis and Peshawar Zalmis lobbying. PSL franchises should be kept far away from PCB affairs

Bro... its better to keep Babar away from the captaincy... all things will be sorted out automatically.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Dinesh karthik has criticized Babar Azam's captaincy.

​

Former Indian cricket team star Dinesh Karthik, who just retired after the IPL, said that Babar Azam's comments after the T20 World Cup defeat to USA was uncalled for​

The Pakistan cricket team is in news and is getting blasted from all quarters. In a disastrous start to its T20 World Cup 2024 campaign, the Babar Azam-led Pakistan cricket team slumped to a loss against newcomers USA in Dallas on Thursday. Batting first, Pakistan captain Babar Azam's 44 combined with Shadab Khan's quickfire 40 off 25 balls steered them to 159/7 in 20 overs. In reply, USA captain Monank Patel's half-century along with cameo knocks from Andries Gous (35) and Aaron Jones (36) enabled them to match their opponent's total on the final ball of the innings.


In the Super Over contest, Jones and Harmeet Singh set the target of 19 runs for Pakistan to win the match but Saurabh Netravalkar successfully defended it and etched a historic win for the side.

Former Indian cricket team star Dinesh Karthik, who just retired after the IPL, said that Babar Azam's comments after the defeat was uncalled for.

"As a leader, you need to find a way to be diplomatic in press conferences, and somehow find a way to back your players. Inside the four walls of the dressing room, you can say what you want and have a go at a few people, but you need to find a way to back those players. It's one thing to be honest, another thing to try to understand the team dynamics of team are," Karthik said on Cricbuzz.

"He's newly appointed a captain. A lot of players are vulnerable right now, and he needs to back them. He needs to be saying things like, 'yes, it was a bad day. We probably could've done certain things better, but we will make sure once we get on a roll, we have special players'. That's the kind of language. To state that we didn't play well in the first six overs, we lost too many wickets... it's stating the obvious."

After the loss, Babar said: "The first six overs, the ball was holding and was swinging. But the more partnerships we build, the better for us. When Shadab and I started the partnership, we got momentum. I think when we lost the wickets back-to-back, that was the turning point. When you got momentum, you lost it because of losing wickets."

Karthik also criticised Karthik's body language.

"I fear Pakistan players reading it, which they will be, will feel he's 'letting us down'. The way he's conducted himself at the field, having a go after the boundaries or his shoulders dropping, isn't a sign of a good leader," he said.

"He needs to find a way to find body language to suggest he's fine with whatever's happening, and they can come around. Yes, showing disappointment is fine, but there's a way to show it where the players don't get even more nervous than they already are."

NDTV

 

[BouncerGuy]

Babar is not an excellent captain by any means. He is tried and tested now. He is still not willing to let go of his past mistakes and is still making same mistakes again and again, not willing to change his approach. Not willing to let go of his friendship circle.