Pakistan's 12 months of Test cricket at home ends with 0 wins, under Babar Azam's captaincy

[W63L35]

As far as who should replace him, you have to look at the players who are first-choice & have reasonable experience.

I don't want Babar replaced as test captain as yet. You do. That's why I asked you who should replace Babar. Who is "first choice" in your opinion? Who has reasonable captaincy experience?

You may get your wish though as Afridi seems to be great fan of Sarfraz. So you never know....

They could try someone like Imam - he is young, has played international cricket for 6 years now & whether people like it or not, he is the first-choice opener & will remain so for the next few years.

Seriously??? You must be either trolling or joking! If trolling, please ignore my reply.

So you will replace Babar with Imam who does not warrent a place in the team based on his batting average (23.73) outside Ireland and Pakistan with only two 50s in 12 tests? Just in case you did not realize his test batting record in different countries.... see th stats below.

Besides, how many teams Imam has lead? How many trophies he has own as captain in domestic cricket?

Any other candidate for test captaincy?

 

[W63L35]

As far as Babar’s ODI captaincy is concerned, the results have been relatively better compared to Tests so I think he has earned a couple of more series unless PCB thinks it is important to have one captain across formats.

Relative better? You must be joking?
I know that Babar has captained in only 18 ODIs but he has THE BEST Win/Loss ratio among ALL Pakistani ODI captains who have captained in 10 or more ODIs.

 

[W63L35]

As far as Babar’s ODI captaincy is concerned, the results have been relatively better compared to Tests so I think he has earned a couple of more series unless PCB thinks it is important to have one captain across formats.

Also, what would you say about Babar's Captaincy (results) in T20Is?

Only 4 T20I captains has captained in more T20Is than Babar. If Babar captains in 11 more T20Is, he will be world's most experienced T20I captain ever.

Captain ODI
AJ Finch 76
MS Dhoni 72
EJG Morgan 72
KS Williamson 69
Babar Azam 66

Not to mention his Win/Loss ratio among ALL Time All (major) Teams T20I Captains is in top 3.

So... why do you think Babar is such an all-time great captain (based on the results) but he is not getting same results in Test? Was he just lucky to win 41 T20Is as a captain?

 

[Saj]

The heat is increasing on Babar given the recent results in Tests.

Pakistan captains rarely step down as it would be a 'loss of face', so it's going to have to be the Board that acts.

However if Mickey Arthur is appointed Head Coach then I'm sure he will want Babar to continue.

 

[hitthestump]

I'm not sure how anyone can produce results of 0 for 8 and keep his job.

The lack of obvious candidates is an issue but you cannot allow a return like that to go unpunished. I'd rather Mohammad Ali become captain than Babar be allowed to stay in the role.

Everyone knows that Babar is a tactically weak captain so this isn't a shock. He seems to do well in shorter formats where he has been able to galvanise a team under his wing. But that's no good in tests.

 

[Savak]

I'm not sure how anyone can produce results of 0 for 8 and keep his job.

The lack of obvious candidates is an issue but you cannot allow a return like that to go unpunished. I'd rather Mohammad Ali become captain than Babar be allowed to stay in the role.

Everyone knows that Babar is a tactically weak captain so this isn't a shock. He seems to do well in shorter formats where he has been able to galvanise a team under his wing. But that's no good in tests.

This shows Babar does not have even an iota of self respect and a desire to take ownership of the teams results.

 

[Savak]

The heat is increasing on Babar given the recent results in Tests.

Pakistan captains rarely step down as it would be a 'loss of face', so it's going to have to be the Board that acts.

However if Mickey Arthur is appointed Head Coach then I'm sure he will want Babar to continue.

Mickey Arthur does not tolerate **. If Wasim Akram got fed up of Babars incompetency as captain, what makes you think Mickey Arthur with his short fused nature will not get fed up as well?

 

[Bhaijaan]

It’s unbelievable crazy that a historically dominant home test nation like Pakistan could go through such a slump. Heads must roll.

My advice to Pakistan cricket is that they must address the most basic question and that is that what brand of cricket they intent to play now and in the years to come. There is no doubt Australia, England and now New Zealand who visited Pakistan are all going through a very health phase. Their teams are doing great in all formats, they were all supposed to do good in Pakistan and they did the job. It is however the manner in which Pakistan played cricket which has been a sorry sight. Ultra defensive brand of cricket which wouldn’t inspire people to watch the games and emulate some of these cricketers as role models.

 

[cricketfan11]

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.

 

[W63L35]

This is for the poster who are labeling Babar Azam a horrible captain in all formats - based on 4 consecutive test losses to #1 (Aus) and #3 (Eng) ranked teams....and want him replaced as captain....


So the #5 ranked ODI team (Pakistan) just beat #1 ranked ODI team (NZ) under the leadship of Babar Azam.

His ODI captaincy record is now the BEST among all time Pakistani ODI captains.

He has captained against 7 teams and has winning record against 6 of those team including NZ, Aus and SAF.

Based on these results, can Babar now be made ODI captain for the rest of his career - if the logic was to remove his captaincy based on 4 losses??