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- Oct 2, 2004
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Excellent batsman and holds his place in the side based on merit alone - but a leader of men? You decide.
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Excellent batsman and holds his place in the side based on merit alone - but a leader of men? You decide.


Should have made been captain for ODIs as well.
Best yes man in the team
Won't speak up Infront of misbah
Dummy captain
I hope he refrains from selecting his cousins, else it is fine
The one thing Babar will have going for him will be that he has the ability to lead by example. He is head and shoulders above every player in the dressing room.
In Pakistan, a captain has to lead by example first and foremost.
Finally we see a decent appointment under Mani and Wasim Khan.
It is important that Babar lets the advice he receives from Misbah in one ear and out in the other, otherwise we will have another defensive captain to contend with.

Poor decision IMO. He's just learning captaincy. Could have easily given in to Imad and had Babar as vice captain to take over. The disaster scenario would be that Babar's batting suffers, can not afford this.
Pakistan also takes T20s too seriously especially T20 world cup. If he doesn't win it, he could well be hounded out of captaincy. And we've seen players fall apart after chucked out of captaincy, they're not the same. Malik for example, we don't want to repeat that. Pietersen probably another example.
People also mix formats up. Sarfraz was a very good T20 captain, impressing in PSL with both batting and captaincy. Good record as international T20 captain, and a good overall record even with bat, averages 28 at SR 126. Which is the best record for a T20 bat we have apart from Babar.
Sarfraz had 1 bad series and is kicked out and was the only series he batted in this year, 2019. Last year in 2018 he averaged 32 at SR 145.
Rizwan on the other hand has done little in terms of international T20s or even in PSL.
Sarfraz absolutely should have been removed from Tests, and perhaps even T20s. But considering T20 world cup is coming, I think it was foolish booting him out there. He doesn't even get a chance to captain the side he led to no.1 in a world cup. Would have been perfect time to hand over captaincy to babar after the t20 world cup, with Babar having gained experienced by that time as vice.
After decades Pakistan found someone who can be compared to world class players like Kohli, Williamson or Root. Giving extra responsibility can back fire sometimes as handling Pakistani players is the most difficult job in world.
Time will tell.
He's easily our best batsman and I hope his form doesn't suffer as captain.
No , Babar is no leader . He is our best batter and God knows we need him . Why weigh him down with the extra pressures of captaincy . IMO sarfarz was dong fine in shorter formats as captain . If we really needed to change captains then maybe Imad .
Good appointment. He is the man who will captain in all 3 formats.
This is a good chance for him to settle in to captaincy. A captain needs to lead from the front and make the team on merit. Babar fills these points .
People need to stop being negative about this. It may not work out , but not every single thing in sport works out lol. We could not carry on with Sarfraz as captain. If Babar doesn't work out , we move on. Stop over thinking every thing.
I am confident he will do well.
People are just scared.
Babar will do fine.
Sarfraz didn't merit a spot in the team so Misbah had to take a risk.
I would prefer Mohammad Amir to be his vice captain. If not him, then Fakhar Zaman.
He is a great bowler and experienced.Why Muhammad Amir?
He is a great bowler and experienced.
I also would like to see a fast bowling captain for Pakistan.
Imad has fitness issues.Hes a crook and a selfish individual.
Imad would have a far better choice as captain, I would let Babar pile up runs.
Too young. Too easy to break. Will flop. Great players don’t always make good captains.
here is my prediction: Aus demolishes pak in T20, Babar loses form. Pakistan get kicked out of WT20 very early. Misbah gets fired. Captaincy get rotated to another person. Pakistan hires another professional foreigner coach. This may happen in 1 year or 2 but it will happen.
Can someone explain Babar's captaincy credentials in domestic or PSL or any gulli cricket out there in T20?
I think pakistan will bounce back from this t20 series loss and will demolish this aussie team in australia.here is my prediction: Aus demolishes pak in T20, Babar loses form. Pakistan get kicked out of WT20 very early. Misbah gets fired. Captaincy get rotated to another person. Pakistan hires another professional foreigner coach. This may happen in 1 year or 2 but it will happen.
Can someone explain Babar's captaincy credentials in domestic or PSL or any gulli cricket out there in T20?
Dont think Babar is ready for this - he is our only good batsman - hope doesnt get distracted
This plus he is not a good tactician also.
How do you know this?
Saad Nasim over vs Sindh???
I have a feeling PCB have jumped the trigger a little early with Babar captaincy. Timing is wrong with a world event coming up. He is awkward with the media. Why take the risk? I know you have already selected him but this is a new set up and perhaps, if Misbah thinks he has made a mistake, he should just admit it, and select someone else till the end of the T20 world cup.
Imad Wasim, Arthur’s pick, probably did seem like the logical idea. Let Babar just focus on his batting. Don’t worry about captaincy at all right now, just keep batting like a maestro. I think that is really what Babar himself probably wants to do as well, deep down, at this stage of his career.
Not gonna happen and shouldnt happen as well. Shot has been fired and there shouldnt be any turning back as it will be not only unprofessional on PCB’s part but will ruin Babar’s confidence as leader too and he is supposed to lead Pakistan in all formats in few years time.
They could have thought all about the decision before making it and now only thing they should do is to stick with it and let Babar develop with time.
Pak is not only trying new players but a new young leader as well in T20s as it should be which will allow him to learn and progress in this role before assignment in other formats.
I wish they did it. I don’t care if we look unprofessional, if it could be better for the team. Just focus on your own product. Babar can be made to understand hopefully. And don’t even have to crown him a ‘future leader’, just let him bat. Don’t worry about the captaincy at all. Do you think Imad hypothetically would have been a better captain up to T20 world cup?
Why are all of you making such blunt comments about his captaincy? Both of you who support the decision and those who don't.
Is captaincy based on the individual's performance as a batsman or as a player? No. Yes, those things undoubtedly increase credibility. But good captaincy is based on technical knowledge of the game, captaincy is based on situation-awareness, quick decision making, informed decision making, overall leadership qualities etc. Great captains (Dhoni, Ponting, Graeme Smith) also think out of the box. These are all virtues that I feel the captain must possess.
I know Sarfaraz wasnt in the best of form, but he was a very good captain, very smart, and would have really helped him if he was given the correct playing XIs, and if his own number was correctly slotted. Poor guy sometimes waited for his turn till no. 9. But he won us matches, and that was a plus point. He had a lot to improve upon though. Also, I do think he was a bad test captain, and it was about time we did something about that.
And let me tell you, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, and Azhar Ali are the worst captains I have ever seen, ever! They set odd fields that dont work, they make bizarre bowling changes, and have no clue how to take wickets!! They can't adopt to the situation, and have zero match flexibility.
Did you see Babar Azam in the T20 Cup, blekkhh. In the Australia matches that he captained in, his bowlers were bowling standard off stump good length bowling, no real pace and no real swing (at a time when they should've been bowling yorkers), and he only had 3 fielders on the off side, all in the circle.
However, all that said, Babar is a quick learner and doesnt repeat his mistakes. When he takes the job seriously, he never repeats the same mistakes again, at least from his batting and fielding. It's at least a refreshing choice, and very exciting, and it could prove beneficial for us in the future.
Some people are quoting Imad Wasim. Hahaha. Yes he has some experience, but he was the second worst captain in the PSL, IMO. You guys are talking like he won Karachi two trophies in one tournament ��
Also guys, please stop mistaking captaincy with factors like seniority, experience, or lead by example types. Or because Azhar Ali is a "decent guy", he'll be a good captain (Is Virat decent?) You can be senior, you can have lots of experience, but you can still be a dumb, or a uselessly defensive captain (Shahid Afridi, Misbah ul Haq, Shoaib Malik are good examples). I mean guys, Tim Payne, for example, isnt the best player exactly, but he's a very good captain and is getting better with time.
IMO, Sarfraz should have stayed as T20 Captain, and we saw a glimpse of Asad Shafiq's captaincy in the SA series. I liked what I saw. When SA batsmen were flowing with runs, he had to take over because of some issue with Sarfaraz, and with his radically aggressive fielding ploys, he reduced the strike rates dramatically and then even got a wicket. Also, he's experienced and senior, and at the very least is a much better choice than Azhar. I would rather make Shaheen Shah Afridi the captain. No kidding.
And in ODIs, maybe I would give him a rest and there I could let the vice captain (Shadab, or Babar whoever it was) take over for a series or two, or until whenever Sarfraz got his form back. If they proved to be better than Saifi, maybe even give them an extended run.
But let's just wait and see. Maybe I am wrong. But as of now, I think that not only should Azhar be immediately removed as captain, but I think he should be removed from the team as a whole. He is disastrously out of form in all departments, and immensely overrated. And Shoaib, Hafeez and Azhar are the worst players for overseas conditions anyways.
Nevertheless, I would love to hear your opinions on my perspective, and hopefully I've successfully convinced some of you reading this to change your minds![]()
How it's possible?Bangladesh were 41/3 but then Babar decided to bowl part timers like Malik and Ifti. That didnt quite made sense and Bangla were allowed to settle down a bit. They failed to capitalise though which was due to their lack of quality. Credit to Pakistan bowlers though towards the end.
Pakistan must go for the kill in such situations and bowl with their front line bowlers.
Babar must learn from this as if you should always learn from your wins as well.
How it's possible?
When he played under sarfraz and his current coach Is misbah
Misbah is a great tactician. Hopefully Babar learns from him.
Sarfraz led the national team to no. 1, an unbeaten streak and it wasn't just the national team he had success with, but also his franchise team QG had won the PSL and go to the knockout stages every year.
No way you can replace someone like Sarfraz, especially with a rookie.
Babar has done brilliantly with the bat, but he is nowhere near Sarfraz as a T20 captain and Sarfraz deserved to at least lead the team at the WC.