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Reports - Babar Azam set to take over captaincy in all formats

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Some reports indicate that this could be the case but how likely is that?

Reports also indicate that before or after the New Zealand tour, any decision related to his captaincy can be taken. Also, a member of PCB’s cricket committee is not in favor of Azhar continuing as a Test captain.

To recap, Azhar Ali has always been Misbah's favourite as his successor but the loss in England must have raised a few eyebrows and now with Misbah not the Chief Selector, could the new Chief Selector stand his ground about Azhar's suitability as captain?
 
The axis of incompetence is crashing, falling down at full speed. It would have another push when one main pillar of this axis - Azhar Ali is shown the door. One of the worst Pakistani captains.
 
Lol, Wasim Akram apparently is calling the shots now in the PCB Cricket Committee under IK's instructions. Wasim was not in favor of Azhar Ali being retained as captain and wasn't in favor of Misbah having dual roles either. The PCB coming down hard on incompetence now.
 
But who else would you have do this role at the moment? Please don’t tell me they want to burden Babar with the Test captaincy also
 
Realistically speaking their is no one really who is shouting out to be the next test captain . The players are either finding their feet in test cricket or just not test captaincy material. Will be foolish to give Babar the burden of triple captaincy for all formats at this stage .

Now that Azhar has found some form it will be probably best to give him a few more series . The series against England ultimately was decided by one bad session.

Once Babar is secure in his captaincy in T20 and One day matches he will most likely be the ideal candidate .
 
Best option to replace azhar ali as a test captain.

Make Babar azam test and odi captain while give t20 captaincy to someone else .i know it is wishful thinking due to t20 worldcup round the corner and babar might not want to resign from t20 captaincy .
Or
Pakistan is not playing many odi game in next 2 years .Give it to someone else and let babar concentrate on t20 and test captaincy
 
The PCB hierarchy were very unhappy with his handling of the 1st Test in England and how Pakistan lost from a position of great strength.

There is a push within PCB to appoint Shan Masood as skipper.
 
The PCB hierarchy were very unhappy with his handling of the 1st Test in England and how Pakistan lost from a position of great strength.

There is a push within PCB to appoint Shan Masood as skipper.

So we are going to play with one man short in NZ, Shan masons is awful in conditions supportive of seam and swing. PCB should give Babur go ahead.
 
Shan Masood looool

Azhar doesn't deserve this treatment after the last match. Stick with Azhar and groom Rizwan as test captain till next year. Right now there is no one ready.

This joker Wasim Khan made Azhar Ali the captain whe he clearly was struggling to score runs
 
I don't think they will change him before New Zealand tour.

Then it will depend on how he perfoms there both as a player and captain.
 
Good. Shouldn't have been appointed in the first place after the mess he made of skippering the ODI team and his own torrid form.
 
No regular player in the team except him to be captain. Babar too inexperienced as a captain and his tactics have been pretty ordinary in T20is.
Rizwan and Shan can lose form any time and may get dropped.
 
Making Azhar the captain was not a good decision for even him because it put him into alot of pressure. I still feel he has 2 years of cricket left which would be great if the youngsters are developed and brought gradually into the team. However, his poor captaincy will make matters worse for him as he might get axed from the team as well.
But, changing him the captain right now will also be a bad decision because that would cause rift in the team and the new captain might find it really tough to lead the unsettled test team. The best case scenario would be that Azhar himself resigns from the post due to bad captaincy although his performances might be good with the bat. I am saying this because changing a captain forcibly creates insecurities amongst the players.
 
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Im not a fan of Azhar as captain but there isn't anybody else in the team to do the job. I want Babar to focus on batting only. Maybe Rizwan?
 
Azhar was always a stop gap while Babar was groomed into the role surely? Not like they made a 35 year old test captain as a long term option.

The fact remains that there is no other captaincy candidate within Pakistan right now so i don't really see what the alternative is.
 
All this talk of inexperience is hogwash now. Babar is 26 - exactly the age at which Kohli became Test captain. Clearly the best candidate for it at this point.
 
All this talk of inexperience is hogwash now. Babar is 26 - exactly the age at which Kohli became Test captain. Clearly the best candidate for it at this point.

Yep. Williamson also become captain in 2016 at age 25. Smith in 2015. Root in 2017. All at age 25-26. Babar can mold the team and shape it hopefully like how Kohli and Williamson did. (Not the Root way though haha.)
 
The PCB hierarchy were very unhappy with his handling of the 1st Test in England and how Pakistan lost from a position of great strength.

There is a push within PCB to appoint Shan Masood as skipper.

Shan is a good candidate. I am glad the PCB is taking action, this is not the 2010 to 2017 era where players would never be held accountable for incompetence and unforgivable losses.
 
Nothing about Babar suggests that the man will be creatively different to Azhar. The guy is a great bat but I don’t think he is captain material at all.
 
Granted when he was appointed last year, there were no options visible. He’s a limited captain, which isn’t really his fault. Some people aren’t built for captaincy. It was clear for anyone to see during the England series that he was out of his depth, especially going up against a pretty good captain. If these reports are true, good to see the PCB trying to do something different.

However, I still don’t see any options out there. Baber has a lot of learning to do. Shan while I think would be a good option hasn’t 100% nailed his spot down in the team. The only player who has spots nailed down are, Rizwan and Shaheen. Both are too young in their careers to be given the responsibility. It isn’t an easy situation for the selectors. This time there isn’t even a senior player like Misbah to bring in to Captain either. Maybe Hafeez? Even then he’ll insist on opening which he just isn’t built for. He would need to man the 6 spot which he refuses to play at.

Ultimately at the end of the day, either go to Baber and let him learn on the job and we struggle or we go with Shan, and do well tactically but maybe have a very hot and cold opener for the next couple years. I’m in favor of the later while Baber learns to captain in the shorter formats. It’s pretty clear we’re not winning this Test Championship. We need to start preparing for the next one.
 
Babar, Rizwan, and Shan are the options.

Shan is the most likely choice, followed by Rizwan. I don’t think they will overburden Babar.
 
The PCB hierarchy were very unhappy with his handling of the 1st Test in England and how Pakistan lost from a position of great strength.

There is a push within PCB to appoint Shan Masood as skipper.

The thing is, the window for utilising Shan Masood as skipper is closing fast. He is a mediocre batsman at his peak, about to go into age-related decline, whereas Azhar was a previously good batsman in late-stage advanced age-related decline.

Shan Masood is the only current player with leadership qualities, but if you think of players in terms of a kind of "FIFA Cricket" performance score you would have:

Azhar Ali
Lifetime Peak 85/100
2018 level 72
2019 level 65
2020 level 59

Shan Masood
Lifetime Peak 70/100
2018 level 70
2019 level 70
2020 level 70

We can only assume that in 2021, 2022 and 2023 they would decline with age to:
Azhar: 57 in 2021, 55 in 2022, 53 in 2023.
Shan: 69 in 2021, 67 in 2022, 65 in 2023.

It means that the window for Shan Masood is itself closing. he needs to be given a 2 year stint as Pakistan skipper from now until the end of the 2021-23 World Test Championship cycle, with BOTH Shadab Khan or Mohammad Rizwan groomed during that 2 year period to see which one of them grows into leadership material.
 
I think shan masood or wasim should get it but only after the New Zealand series I also dont want babar having the responsibility of all three formats
 
I believe Wasim Khan is on the move and will correct what he has done wrong, but it is a little too late. I think Misbah will be next, but the question is who is going to correct the mistake of hiring Wasim Khan.

BTW Rizwan should captain all formats. The sooner they stop the Babar Azam nonsense the better because he will take at least 2 to 3 years to become a better captain and we can't wait this long.
 
I believe Wasim Khan is on the move and will correct what he has done wrong, but it is a little too late. I think Misbah will be next, but the question is who is going to correct the mistake of hiring Wasim Khan.

BTW Rizwan should captain all formats. The sooner they stop the Babar Azam nonsense the better because he will take at least 2 to 3 years to become a better captain and we can't wait this long.

Rizwan isnt suited in t20s when you have babar thier azwell
 
Rizwan isnt suited in t20s when you have babar thier azwell

I believe in Rizwan and I also believe that he will come good as a T20 player as well. Rizwan has already done so well in the on going National T20.
 
I believe in Rizwan and I also believe that he will come good as a T20 player as well. Rizwan has already done so well in the on going National T20.

He has done well but we already have babar if babar gets injuired rizwan or abdullah can take his spot. He should concentrate on tests and odis he can be pakistan best ever wicket keeper Bateman
 
The PCB hierarchy were very unhappy with his handling of the 1st Test in England and how Pakistan lost from a position of great strength.

There is a push within PCB to appoint Shan Masood as skipper.

Oh dear. I commend Shan for a brilliant 150 in the first test. However he reverted to the same old habits after that. And there's the problem - you can't have a guy averaging 30 become your captain. It didn't work with Salman Butt and it's not going to work now.

The captain has to command with his performance. It's why Inzi was successful despite being a terrible tactician. It's why Misbah was successful too.

When you don't perform as captain, you end up in the situation Azhar was in just before the third test - huge pressure on you alone and everyone talking about the viability of your position in the team.

Our problem is that the only person deserving of captaincy, Babar, is shy and not articulate. This means that fans question his ability to captain which is so unfortunate. However it is firmly my view that Barbar should be given the captaincy in all forms. I gave the example of Inzi above - not shy like Barbar but Inzi had other flaws in that he couldn't set a field to save his life. Yet Inzi's tenure was one of the most stable for Pakistani cricket, simply because everyone in the team knew that Inzi was the best without question when it came to batting. The same is the case with Barbar - he will command respect through his batting alone, something Shan will never do.
 
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Has Azhar Ali got any captaincy prospects without Misbah's patronage?

It is no secret that Azhar Ali has been a batsman in severe age-related decline for several years.

And he is the same age as Alastair Cook and AB De Villiers - both of whom were significantly better batsmen than he ever was - yet he was only appointed to the captaincy years after they had retired from Test cricket.

None of us are under any illusions. Virtually nobody would have appointed to the captaincy a man whose batting was in such clear decline.

But one man would. Misbah-ul-Haq had been an omnipotent Pakistan captain, for whom Azhar Ali was a loyal foot soldier. And 13 months ago when Misbah was given a Dual Role as both Head Coach and Chief Selector, he immediately saw Azhar Ali as a loyal Proxy Captain who would allow Misbah to control all three Levers of Power:

1. Selection
2. Coaching
3. On field events.

Of course the results have been catastrophic.

On their previous 2 Test tours of England and Australia during the Arthur/Misbah period, Pakistan would have got 60 World Test Championship points out of a total of 240.

This time, Misbah's team achieved 26 points out of 240 - and they were due to rain.

Misbah is now a much-diminished figure. He has lost control of selection, and that means that the new Chief Selector can challenge the position of Azhar Ali as skipper. Azhar has shown that he is a nice man, but one with minimal strategic skill.

A skipper is responsible for on-field performance - not the coach. And Azhar has faithfully repeated all the on-field errors that Misbah used to always make in SENA.

Will Azhar even survive until the tour of NZ?
 
I believe Wasim Khan is on the move and will correct what he has done wrong, but it is a little too late. I think Misbah will be next, but the question is who is going to correct the mistake of hiring Wasim Khan.

BTW Rizwan should captain all formats. The sooner they stop the Babar Azam nonsense the better because he will take at least 2 to 3 years to become a better captain and we can't wait this long.
Appointing Wasim khan was a mistake?
Anyhow, you will understand the value of his appointment in a few years because you dont seem like the person who study's little signs very well.
 
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Appointing Wasim khan was a mistake?
Anyhow, you will understand the value of his appointment in a few years because you dont seem like the person who study's little signs very well.

I was extremely happy to get Wasim Khan and fully supported him, but then he hired Misbah(Coach and CS, lol), Waqar, Younis Khan(Keep this guy away from PCB please) and I could go on and on. He is responsible for all these blunders or was it all Imran Khan? wait a seond.. Is Wasim a puppet? More reasons to get rid of him. Forgot to mention Azhar Ali as a captain of our test team, which only happened because Mr Wasim Khan brought Misbah in dual roles and gave him absolute control. I mean seriously, what is going on?
 
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I was extremely happy to get Wasim Khan and fully supported him, but then he hired Misbah(Coach and CS, lol), Waqar, Younis Khan(Keep this guy away from PCB please) and I could go on and on. He is responsible for all these blunders or was it all Imran Khan? wait a seond.. Is Wasim a puppet? More reasons to get rid of him. Forgot to mention Azhar Ali as a captain of our test team, which only happened because Mr Wasim Khan brought Misbah in dual roles and gave him absolute control. I mean seriously, what is going on?

Mare, focus in the great domestic changes he is making, the stuff that matters. Lmao.
 
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I think, he’ll survive as PAK Test captain for at least one more season. The last Test has changed the equation completely.

The issue that was going against Azhar was that as a player he was failing - becoming a burden as Captain. But, that match saving innings has ensured that within the available resources, Azhar still is among top five Test batsmen. There are youngsters playing around cute innings of 30-40, what what Azhar can do is grind out sessions and save Tests - could have won few as well had PAK bowling not been at this state that it’s still Yasir Shah has to take a 10 for in SENA, if PAK is to win a Test .... in Asia, he is doing that.

Not much against him as Captain because others are not that “sharp” and bar Babar, none has cemented their place. I would have liked to see a bowlers as PAK captain, but Amir is retired, Yasir is just not at the right age frame ..... rest are more talent than substance. In that regard, I don’t mind Azhar to keep on captaincy and allow Babar to lead the batting - a struggling Azhar as Captain is a much better option than a Captain Babar and then struggling with bat ..... Rizwan is never the alternate option - PCB should be more than shy, because they have appointed WK as Captain more than twice and it has beaten them every time.

May be 2022 is the time when PAK’s home cycle starts, Babar can replace Azhar as Test captain.
 
I think, this one is more appropriate here:

I think, he’ll survive as PAK Test captain for at least one more season. The last Test has changed the equation completely.

The issue that was going against Azhar was that as a player he was failing - becoming a burden as Captain. But, that match saving innings has ensured that within the available resources, Azhar still is among top five Test batsmen. There are youngsters playing around cute innings of 30-40, what what Azhar can do is grind out sessions and save Tests - could have won few as well had PAK bowling not been at this state that it’s still Yasir Shah has to take a 10 for in SENA, if PAK is to win a Test .... in Asia, he is doing that.

Not much against him as Captain because others are not that “sharp” and bar Babar, none has cemented their place. I would have liked to see a bowlers as PAK captain, but Amir is retired, Yasir is just not at the right age frame ..... rest are more talent than substance. In that regard, I don’t mind Azhar to keep on captaincy and allow Babar to lead the batting - a struggling Azhar as Captain is a much better option than a Captain Babar and then struggling with bat ..... Rizwan is never the alternate option - PCB should be more than shy, because they have appointed WK as Captain more than twice and it has beaten them every time.

May be 2022 is the time when PAK’s home cycle starts, Babar can replace Azhar as Test captain.
 
Mare, focus in the great domestic changes he is making, the stuff that matters. Lmao.

Lmao. This was always Imran Khan's idea and anyone appointed by him was going to implement all these changes.

BTW I have loved all the changes they have made in our domestic set up. Way to go!!
 
Azhar is a poor captain and poor batsmen. No rationale for him team to be captain.

Same goes for Shan. Extremely inconsistent batsmen - in 5 innings in England had 1 score of over 20

Ideally Babar should be the captain. He's the best player in the Test team, and he already has buy-in and experience as an international captain.

I would rather they keep Azhar if Shan is the alternate
 
Azhar Ali would not be captain if Misbah was not coach. Making him captain is another questionable decision by Misbah. He failed as a captain already, so why make him captain when his career is almost done and form was really poor?
 
Think pressure on Azhar will be immense now - Dont think this is healthy for his batting.
 
Not a fan of Azhar Ali's Captaincy but Imran Khan shouldn't interfere in cricket matters at all. According to ICC laws its is not allowed for Govt. to interfere in Board related matters if i remember correctly.

Wasim Akram should never be making any decisions related to Pakistan cricket and you know the reason why. Misbah was Imran and Wasim's choice and the blame goes to them too for this disaster.
 
Shaan should take over from Azhar. Shaan is no Bradman but is far better than useless Azhar ever was.
 
New reports suggesting that Azhar Ali could lose his captaincy to Mohammad Rizwan!

Wise move?
 
The thing is, the window for utilising Shan Masood as skipper is closing fast. He is a mediocre batsman at his peak, about to go into age-related decline, whereas Azhar was a previously good batsman in late-stage advanced age-related decline.

Shan Masood is the only current player with leadership qualities, but if you think of players in terms of a kind of "FIFA Cricket" performance score you would have:

Azhar Ali
Lifetime Peak 85/100
2018 level 72
2019 level 65
2020 level 59

Shan Masood
Lifetime Peak 70/100
2018 level 70
2019 level 70
2020 level 70

We can only assume that in 2021, 2022 and 2023 they would decline with age to:
Azhar: 57 in 2021, 55 in 2022, 53 in 2023.
Shan: 69 in 2021, 67 in 2022, 65 in 2023.

It means that the window for Shan Masood is itself closing. he needs to be given a 2 year stint as Pakistan skipper from now until the end of the 2021-23 World Test Championship cycle, with BOTH Shadab Khan or Mohammad Rizwan groomed during that 2 year period to see which one of them grows into leadership material.

I agree. We need to fast track Shadab back into test team and groom him for captaincy. VC of white ball is the right first step. He is a fast learner, already has improved his batting and if he can do reasonable improvements in bowling, he will be a good fit. He will change the culture of the team. Already, we saw he is an effective captain.
 
PCB CEO Wasim Khan "At the moment i cant confirm that Azhar Ali willl be captain in series agains NZ, we will announce Test Squad and Captain name on 11th November"
 
New reports suggesting that Azhar Ali could lose his captaincy to Mohammad Rizwan!

Wise move?

I think he may be the best possible choice currently, and definitely a better choice than Azhar, so yes a wise move. The only other possibility would be Shan. I was really happy when I read this on cricinfo today.
 
PCB CEO Wasim Khan "At the moment i cant confirm that Azhar Ali willl be captain in series agains NZ, we will announce Test Squad and Captain name on 11th November"

Doesn't that just confirm that Azhar won't be captain?

Wasim could have just said 'no comment'. Not b
 
I like the fact that PCB is now having proper appraisals of those in key positions.

Previously it was far too comfortable, say a few words and you will be alright and continue in your role. Nowadays it seems that people are being asked the right questions and if they aren't delivering then they are being given a wake up call or even told to move on, as we have seen with Misbah.
 
I don't think it would make a huge difference in team performance whether the captain is Babar, Rizwan, or Shan. Ultimately the Test team is quite weak, a captain can only do so much and none of those 3 are good enough to drastically improve the team with captaincy skills.


The downside is that multiple captain could create divisions in the team. If Rizwan plays under Babar's captaincy in LOI, and Babar plays under Rizwan's captaincy in Test. Same goes for Shan.


The other risk with Shan is that he still isn't a good enough performer to be made captain - scored 20+ in just 1 out of 5 innings in England.


Babar is the safest choice
 
I don't think it would make a huge difference in team performance whether the captain is Babar, Rizwan, or Shan. Ultimately the Test team is quite weak, a captain can only do so much and none of those 3 are good enough to drastically improve the team with captaincy skills.


The downside is that multiple captain could create divisions in the team. If Rizwan plays under Babar's captaincy in LOI, and Babar plays under Rizwan's captaincy in Test. Same goes for Shan.


The other risk with Shan is that he still isn't a good enough performer to be made captain - scored 20+ in just 1 out of 5 innings in England.


Babar is the safest choice

Won't mind Rizwan in tests
 
Babar should be made test captain , he is 26 already and pakistan hardly plays 7 8 test matches a year. He needs time to settle as a captain then probably can captain pakistan for 7 8 years.

No stop gap captains p!ease.
 
I think rizwan should be made captain I think thier will be to much responsibility on babar shoulders hence why I would give it to rizwan
 
I don't think it would make a huge difference in team performance whether the captain is Babar, Rizwan, or Shan. Ultimately the Test team is quite weak, a captain can only do so much and none of those 3 are good enough to drastically improve the team with captaincy skills.

Captain is really important especially in the cruicial moments of the game. If a team isnt good enough to get into positions where they have more chance of a win then thats another matter. However, in a team like Pakistan which get into those positions only to squander those opportunities, a captain is extremely important. The way Azhar lost the first test vs Eng in Manchester definitely raised questions regarding his captaincy.
 
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It was the biggest blunder of Wasim Khan to appoint a captain that wasn’t scoring runs and now this.

I feel for the new captain, India world no 1 were trashed by NZ on green pitches, and we will be trashed harder. There should be no change of Captain, let Azhar Ali face the humiliation :)). Save some dignity of the new captain and give him this role against SA.

Clown Wasim Khan
 
What a turnaround for Rizwan. Before the England tour, people said Sarfraz should be back wicket keeping. Now Rizwan is on the verge of being captain of the test team. The problem is if Rizwan is continues in the white ball team and Barbar is captaining him?

This is an Asian team so that might brings its own problems but happy for Rizwan to be given a go as skipper of the test team. He is like Sarfraz when he was the 'oxygen' of the team.
 
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Think I like that idea. Rizwan has a lot going for him and Azhar can improve as a batsman.
 
It was the biggest blunder of Wasim Khan to appoint a captain that wasn’t scoring runs and now this.

I feel for the new captain, India world no 1 were trashed by NZ on green pitches, and we will be trashed harder. There should be no change of Captain, let Azhar Ali face the humiliation :)). Save some dignity of the new captain and give him this role against SA.

Clown Wasim Khan

Nah, let NZ be the time for the new captain to see who the dead weight are and then he can mold a team to his vision after that.
 
A couple of failures with the bat and rizwa s place will be questioned , babar is the natural choice .

Pcb needs to look for a long term option instead of stop gap appointments.
 
I like the fact that PCB is now having proper appraisals of those in key positions.

Previously it was far too comfortable, say a few words and you will be alright and continue in your role. Nowadays it seems that people are being asked the right questions and if they aren't delivering then they are being given a wake up call or even told to move on, as we have seen with Misbah.

Absolutely. This is what has been missing in the PCB and Pakistan Cricket since 2010. Too many players and officials were kept in their comfort zones and not held accountable for anything.

According to some media, the PCB has approached Umar Gul to replace Waqar Younis as the national team fast bowling coach. How accurate is this?
 
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Nah, let NZ be the time for the new captain to see who the dead weight are and then he can mold a team to his vision after that.

He will be sacked as well. Our bowling was a disaster against Eng and Aus, and even Clive Loyd and Imran Khan wouldn’t be able make these donkeys play like horse.

He scored a hundred in the last match. He is being sacked for meeting Imran Khan
 
According to some journalists, Babar Azam will be the new captain
 
I like the fact that PCB is now having proper appraisals of those in key positions.

Previously it was far too comfortable, say a few words and you will be alright and continue in your role. Nowadays it seems that people are being asked the right questions and if they aren't delivering then they are being given a wake up call or even told to move on, as we have seen with Misbah.

There should be a proper appraisal of the top management. Didn’t they know what kind of captain Azhar Ali was during ODI capatincy. Fools
 
Waqar Younis deserves to be grilled on how the bowlers performed in England. Just because he was a legendary bowler makes it below his dignity to be questioned on his coaching performance?
 
Some reports indicate that this could be the case but how likely is that?

Reports also indicate that before or after the New Zealand tour, any decision related to his captaincy can be taken. Also, a member of PCB’s cricket committee is not in favor of Azhar continuing as a Test captain.

To recap, Azhar Ali has always been Misbah's favourite as his successor but the loss in England must have raised a few eyebrows and now with Misbah not the Chief Selector, could the new Chief Selector stand his ground about Azhar's suitability as captain?

As well his position should be in danger, people might be blind sided by his 100 against England but other than that he's done nothing of note. He has been an under performer for years along with Asad Shafiq. Both need to go and other people in line should get chances.
 
Azhar should be given a proper send off. He’s been one of the best servants to Pakistan cricket. I hate it when players don’t get that and are forced to leave because they are not performing.

It’s partly his own fault - should have declined captaincy, batted 2 more series, and retired after he scored his next century (against either Bangladesh or England). That way he gets respect, team performs well, and no blemishes on his record.

Why don’t Pakistani players understand this before accepting the captaincy role?
 
From a captaincy perspective that defeat against England this year was a shocker.

In fact it was a shambles of the highest order and I know Wasim Khan was not impressed at all.

There was simply no way Pakistan should have lost that match.
 
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