Babar's captaincy is not up to the mark. However, the problems with Pakistan cricket have been around a long time before Babar was made captain.
The issue with batting strike rates has been prevalent for some 15 years or so now. Cricket began to change with the advent of T20. The world focused on more aggressive batting but somehow Pakistan could not engineer this change in their batsmen. You can check how teams like India, England and Australia have changed their style of batting in Test cricket but Pakistan still plays with a run rate of 3, often no higher than 4, regardless of the situation. How can they actually adapt to changes and make the most out of the sessions, when if their approach tends to be the same?
It is a mystery why fast bowlers keep getting injured so much and when they seem to be fit they lack the firepower to get wickets. They bowl decently in T20 but look clueless in Test cricket. This seems really strange - because clearly, ability is there, but there seems to be an issue with adapting to a different format.
The most shocking observation for me is the body language of the players. When they play Test cricket they just don't look passionate. This is very alarming. There seems to be a mental block of some kind.
We often focus on the pitches, the selection, the domestic system etc. - some of the solutions to these issues will take years to materialise (and by then no doubt other teams will have become even better). However, one does wonder why there can't be an improvement just in the batting strike rate (just take more risks, because a defensive mindset isn't really yielding the results) or passion in the players. Surely this is something you can do better with your existing resources regardless of who the captain, coach or board chairman are.
