Why isn't Imran Khan held responsible for making Babar Azam the captain?

[Major]

Alot of fans criticize Babar and everyone involved in the PCB for making Babar the captain, even Misbah was criticized for this aswell. Yet alot don't know how Babar Azam was made the captain.

It happened like this, Azhar ALi was captain, and Misbah, Azhar and Hafeez decided to meet Imran Khan to discuss about department cricket. Alot of cricketers were job less and these three decided to go discuss this. This meeting took place during when Azhar had not captained the team well..

PCB under Wasim Khan took offence to this and said they should had approached Imran Khan through them and not act as independently.

When they met Imran, he wasnt too happy, and even instructed Azhar Ali be removed as captain and babar was suggested as the captain

So why isn't the criticism directed at the ex pm who intervened in our cricket administration. Pakistan lost the world t20 2021, 2022, Asia Cup 2022 and maybe world cup 2023 all because of this decision of Imran Khan.

Why no criticism?

 

[YousafTheBeast]

Giving Babar the captaincy wasn’t a bad call, almost every team gives the captaincy to the best player in the team.

The problem with Babar being captain is that we’ve seen how bad he is, and he’s not being removed. He’s had enough chances as captain, and he’s failed.

Also, who would’ve been captain if not Babar at the time?

 

[MenInG]

There were no problems with Babar when was appointed.

He has not performed well since then.

So who is in charge now in PCB? The PDM appointee. With the blessings of his political masters, he should be able to take that decision now? What's stopping him?

 

[Major]

Babar Azam had not proven himself as captain, the decision was made on the basis of the fact taht he bats well. Just like how Yousuf and Tendulkar were made captains in their careers once.

You dont make captains just on experiments. At the time, tthey could had either continued with Azhar Ali, they had Hafeez that was playing till 2021 World T20. Shadab was already captaining his PSL team.

Babar at that point wasnt even good enough to captain psl teams

 

[Ahmed_99]

I swear Azhar was the captain of the ODI side before Babar had even established himself in the team? Then came Sarfaraz as captain after a string of poor performances AND then Babar no?

 

[Mamoon]

It is illogical to blame or credit Imran (if you are a fan of Babar’s captaincy) for this decision because it was obvious since 2018-19 that Babar will be Pakistan’s next long term all format captain after Sarfraz.

Azhar Ali was only a temporary, stop gap solution. There was no other options besides Babar. The only influence Imran might have had is accelerating the process of making Babar captain which in the long term didn’t make much of a difference.

Babar is a poor captain but you need to find a viable replacement first.

Shadab is a rubbish cricketer and he is finally losing his status as Pakistan’s golden boy. It should have happened years ago. Besides, his captaincy has been badly exposed in PSL.

Imad’s captaincy was also very poor in the recent PSL. There is no evidence that he will make better use of the resources available in the national team.

As far as Masood is concerned, anyone who advocated for him at any point or still advocates for him needs to visit the local mental hospital because a sound mind cannot come up with something so absurd.

The only realistic and genuine candidates to replace Babar are Rizwan and Shaheen. Two automatic picks who have impressed with their captaincy in PSL.

Shaheen would be the more exciting choice but he needs to focus on his bowling in the short term and get his pace back to 140+.

Rizwan is a safe bet - he can take over as captain in white ball cricket and I wouldn’t mind Sarfraz serving as a stop gap in Test cricket.

I wouldn’t want Rizwan captaining in all three formats and keeping as well. It will not end well for him and for Pakistan.

This is what I would suggest:

Rizwan ODI/T20 captain and Sarfraz Test captain for 12-18 months.

In 12-18 months, or until Sarfraz is worthy of playing Tests, Rizwan can become the Test captain and Shaheen can take over in ODIs/T20s provided that he is back to his best.

 

[zarak]

It is illogical to blame or credit Imran (if you are a fan of Babar’s captaincy) for this decision because it was obvious since 2018-19 that Babar will be Pakistan’s next long term all format captain after Sarfraz.

Azhar Ali was only a temporary, stop gap solution. There was no other options besides Babar. The only influence Imran might have had is accelerating the process of making Babar captain which in the long term didn’t make much of a difference.

Babar is a poor captain but you need to find a viable replacement first.

Shadab is a rubbish cricketer and he is finally losing his status as Pakistan’s golden boy. It should have happened years ago. Besides, his captaincy has been badly exposed in PSL.

Imad’s captaincy was also very poor in the recent PSL. There is no evidence that he will make better use of the resources available in the national team.

As far as Masood is concerned, anyone who advocated for him at any point or still advocates for him needs to visit the local mental hospital because a sound mind cannot come up with something so absurd.

The only realistic and genuine candidates to replace Babar are Rizwan and Shaheen. Two automatic picks who have impressed with their captaincy in PSL.

Shaheen would be the more exciting choice but he needs to focus on his bowling in the short term and get his pace back to 140+.

Rizwan is a safe bet - he can take over as captain in white ball cricket and I wouldn’t mind Sarfraz serving as a stop gap in Test cricket.

I wouldn’t want Rizwan captaining in all three formats and keeping as well. It will not end well for him and for Pakistan.

This is what I would suggest:

Rizwan ODI/T20 captain and Sarfraz Test captain for 12-18 months.

In 12-18 months, or until Sarfraz is worthy of playing Tests, Rizwan can become the Test captain and Shaheen can take over in ODIs/T20s provided that he is back to his best.

Quite right. It is not like we have have amazing captains waiting in the wings. They are all more or less Babars level. Do you really think Sarfaraz can be a stop gap in tests. He is on the wrong side of 30 and his keeping looks sloppy. I would rather he not play at all, I know he made some runs but he costed us more.

 

[Savak]

Mamoon is correct. At the moment Rizwan looks like the logical captaincy choice to replace Babar. The question is will the PCB risk changing the captain before the ODI WC this year? Nope. If Pakistan fare badly in the ODI WC, it might be babar's final assignment as captain.

 

[Major]

It is illogical to blame or credit Imran (if you are a fan of Babar’s captaincy) for this decision because it was obvious since 2018-19 that Babar will be Pakistan’s next long term all format captain after Sarfraz.

Azhar Ali was only a temporary, stop gap solution. There was no other options besides Babar. The only influence Imran might have had is accelerating the process of making Babar captain which in the long term didn’t make much of a difference.

Babar is a poor captain but you need to find a viable replacement first.

Shadab is a rubbish cricketer and he is finally losing his status as Pakistan’s golden boy. It should have happened years ago. Besides, his captaincy has been badly exposed in PSL.

Imad’s captaincy was also very poor in the recent PSL. There is no evidence that he will make better use of the resources available in the national team.

As far as Masood is concerned, anyone who advocated for him at any point or still advocates for him needs to visit the local mental hospital because a sound mind cannot come up with something so absurd.

The only realistic and genuine candidates to replace Babar are Rizwan and Shaheen. Two automatic picks who have impressed with their captaincy in PSL.

Shaheen would be the more exciting choice but he needs to focus on his bowling in the short term and get his pace back to 140+.

Rizwan is a safe bet - he can take over as captain in white ball cricket and I wouldn’t mind Sarfraz serving as a stop gap in Test cricket.

I wouldn’t want Rizwan captaining in all three formats and keeping as well. It will not end well for him and for Pakistan.

This is what I would suggest:

Rizwan ODI/T20 captain and Sarfraz Test captain for 12-18 months.

In 12-18 months, or until Sarfraz is worthy of playing Tests, Rizwan can become the Test captain and Shaheen can take over in ODIs/T20s provided that he is back to his best.

1. Do you think it should be the pm deciding captains? For a guy who goes on about independent institutes, he took a fast u turb and made a captain of his own liking.

2. Hafeez was there. Yes pakistan had no one to captain but they could had asked hafeez to captain till 2022 and let him know that as soon as they had a candidate they would switch.

In psl 2022 we saw shaheen, and rizwan turn up as captains.

3. Azhar ali wasnt as bad as he was made to look.

4. Babar azam had no proper experience. He was bad at u19 level.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

It is illogical to blame or credit Imran (if you are a fan of Babar’s captaincy) for this decision because it was obvious since 2018-19 that Babar will be Pakistan’s next long term all format captain after Sarfraz.

Azhar Ali was only a temporary, stop gap solution. There was no other options besides Babar. The only influence Imran might have had is accelerating the process of making Babar captain which in the long term didn’t make much of a difference.

Babar is a poor captain but you need to find a viable replacement first.

Shadab is a rubbish cricketer and he is finally losing his status as Pakistan’s golden boy. It should have happened years ago. Besides, his captaincy has been badly exposed in PSL.

Imad’s captaincy was also very poor in the recent PSL. There is no evidence that he will make better use of the resources available in the national team.

As far as Masood is concerned, anyone who advocated for him at any point or still advocates for him needs to visit the local mental hospital because a sound mind cannot come up with something so absurd.

The only realistic and genuine candidates to replace Babar are Rizwan and Shaheen. Two automatic picks who have impressed with their captaincy in PSL.

Shaheen would be the more exciting choice but he needs to focus on his bowling in the short term and get his pace back to 140+.

Rizwan is a safe bet - he can take over as captain in white ball cricket and I wouldn’t mind Sarfraz serving as a stop gap in Test cricket.

I wouldn’t want Rizwan captaining in all three formats and keeping as well. It will not end well for him and for Pakistan.

This is what I would suggest:

Rizwan ODI/T20 captain and Sarfraz Test captain for 12-18 months.

In 12-18 months, or until Sarfraz is worthy of playing Tests, Rizwan can become the Test captain and Shaheen can take over in ODIs/T20s provided that he is back to his best.

Good post.

Although Babar has done fine as an ODI captain and should remain as the captain for the wc. And the team that we have now is much superior to the one we played in 2019 wc.

Sarfraz didn't merit his place in LOIs, and was playing as a specialist captain. Having Sarfraz at 6 is basically shooting yourself in the feet with taking any chance of acceleration in the last phase away from yourself.

The only format Sarfraz was good in was ironically the one he was the most inept in tactically (tests). Sarfraz isn't good at playing the patient game with spinners especially in Asia and we lost two series in UAE under him that we shouldn't have.

 

[MenInG]

1. Do you think it should be the pm deciding captains? For a guy who goes on about independent institutes, he took a fast u turb and made a captain of his own liking.

2. Hafeez was there. Yes pakistan had no one to captain but they could had asked hafeez to captain till 2022 and let him know that as soon as they had a candidate they would switch.

In psl 2022 we saw shaheen, and rizwan turn up as captains.

3. Azhar ali wasnt as bad as he was made to look.

4. Babar azam had no proper experience. He was bad at u19 level.

Bro you are trying very hard to pin this on Imran Khan when you know Babar was the best choice at that time.

 

[Major]

Bro you are trying very hard to pin this on Imran Khan when you know Babar was the best choice at that time.

No he was not the best choice at the time, this is something fans are trying to convince themselves with.

Hafeez was still playing, shadab was psl captain and was made vice.

Misbah was facepalming during the asutralia series when he saw how babar was captaining.

For the sake of babar we lost two icc tournamnrts and one acc tournament and could potentially lose a world cup.

Imran khan does stand to be blamed for intervening.

When you dont have a suitable option you make a temporary captain by letting the person know he is temporary. Hafeez was there, imad was a regular, shadab was captaining isb.

 

[heddie19]

1. Do you think it should be the pm deciding captains? For a guy who goes on about independent institutes, he took a fast u turb and made a captain of his own liking.

2. Hafeez was there. Yes pakistan had no one to captain but they could had asked hafeez to captain till 2022 and let him know that as soon as they had a candidate they would switch.

In psl 2022 we saw shaheen, and rizwan turn up as captains.

3. Azhar ali wasnt as bad as he was made to look.

4. Babar azam had no proper experience. He was bad at u19 level.

So much hatred against Babar's captaincy?

Just for once compare how much of an upgrade he is in white ball compared to a loser like misbah. Compare tourney's performance, individual performance, win %, what so ever. By every metric, he is miles ahead of Misbah as a white ball captain and probably amongst the best captains Pak ever had.

 

[YousafTheBeast]

[MENTION=135038]Major[/MENTION] trying to divert the blame from Misbah and put it on IK.

Throughout Babar’s captaincy, Misbah has defended him in the media. Not once has Misbah said that Babar shouldn’t have been made captain.

Misbah gets the credit for all the good stuff and the PM is to blame for all the stuff that’s gone wrong.

Misbah putting his hands over his face during a game means that he wasn’t happy with Babar being captain? Wow

 

[Major]

[MENTION=135038]Major[/MENTION] trying to divert the blame from Misbah and put it on IK.

Throughout Babar’s captaincy, Misbah has defended him in the media. Not once has Misbah said that Babar shouldn’t have been made captain.

Misbah gets the credit for all the good stuff and the PM is to blame for all the stuff that’s gone wrong.

Misbah putting his hands over his face during a game means that he wasn’t happy with Babar being captain? Wow

babar was made captain by Imran, imran even amitted this, i posted a link in op.

You can google it aswell

 

[cricketAXEpert]

Alot of fans criticize Babar and everyone involved in the PCB for making Babar the captain, even Misbah was criticized for this aswell. Yet alot don't know how Babar Azam was made the captain.

It happened like this, Azhar ALi was captain, and Misbah, Azhar and Hafeez decided to meet Imran Khan to discuss about department cricket. Alot of cricketers were job less and these three decided to go discuss this. This meeting took place during when Azhar had not captained the team well..

PCB under Wasim Khan took offence to this and said they should had approached Imran Khan through them and not act as independently.

When they met Imran, he wasnt too happy, and even instructed Azhar Ali be removed as captain and babar was suggested as the captain

So why isn't the criticism directed at the ex pm who intervened in our cricket administration. Pakistan lost the world t20 2021, 2022, Asia Cup 2022 and maybe world cup 2023 all because of this decision of Imran Khan.

Why no criticism?

Well, Frankly speaking Azhar Ali was worse. Every former cricketer will have an opinion however it is up to the people in charge (PCB and the selectors etc) to make the right decision. And they continue to go with Babar.

 

[topspin]

Babar learned how to captain from Misbah, who may have not been the decision maker but he certainly approved of him leading the side when the captaincy was up for grabs.

When your mentor is Misbah you're not gonna get far.

IK is out of touch when it comes to cricketing matters and he should be blamed for appointing Misbah.

So the chain of blame goes like this, IK -> Misbah -> Babar

 

[PakPremi]

Babar was the best choice at that time but he seem to be a slow learner as a captain,but recently we can see some improvement in hus captaincy and even teams are being slwcted on merit with the excwptuon of Shan Masood and Faheem, but the former is not because Babar wants hime in the team we all know that. Rizwan could be a better captain in white ball cricket.

 

[Savak]

The last great captain Pakistan had under whom the team fought hard and played an exciting brand of cricket was perhaps Wasim Akram.

 

[Major]

Babar was the best choice at that time but he seem to be a slow learner as a captain,but recently we can see some improvement in hus captaincy and even teams are being slwcted on merit with the excwptuon of Shan Masood and Faheem, but the former is not because Babar wants hime in the team we all know that. Rizwan could be a better captain in white ball cricket.

Bro there has been 0 improvement. The mistakes that he made in world t20 2021 are still being repeated in 2023

 

[zarak]

Bro there has been 0 improvement. The mistakes that he made in world t20 2021 are still being repeated in 2023

Like what

 

[Markhor]

So much hatred against Babar's captaincy?

Just for once compare how much of an upgrade he is in white ball compared to a loser like misbah. Compare tourney's performance, individual performance, win %, what so ever. By every metric, he is miles ahead of Misbah as a white ball captain and probably amongst the best captains Pak ever had.

I was nodding along to every point until you had to say that...

Babar had three golden opportunities to win a major T20 tournament and screwed all of them up thanks to a string of poor captaincy decisions.

The best teams don't necessarily win these T20 tournaments, but a half-decent skipper would've capitalised on the advantages we had at these events. The 2021 WC was played in our adopted home of UAE; the 2022 Asia Cup Final was against a weak Sri Lanka who we reduced to 58-5 (and STILL lost); and the Dutch gave us the biggest helping hand possible at the 2022 World Cup by beating South Africa.

You cannot also compare his captaincy record with previous skippers because white-ball bilaterals nowadays are an afterthought - glorified friendlies with weakened teams where the star players are jetting off to lucrative T20 leagues. Look at this NZ team we're facing now, or the Australia ODI side last year who we beat.

His Test record is diabolical. I cannot forgive Babar for wasting the most historic year of Test cricket in Pakistan history in 2022 when Australia, England and New Zealand toured for the first time in decades, and we failed to win a SINGLE Test thanks to cowardly tactics and inept selections (Zahid Mehmood over Abrar Ahmed !) All three series were debacles culminating in the "below the belt" declaration which nearly giftwrapped NZL a Test which plumbed the depths of stupidity.

He's never been successful as captain in U19s, domestic or PSL. I don't blame PCB for appointing him in 2019 for sheer lack of options, but they deserve every bit of blame for retaining him now when there are genuine alternatives.

 

[YousafTheBeast]

babar was made captain by Imran, imran even amitted this, i posted a link in op.

You can google it aswell

So, Misbah was a puppet chief selector?

 

[topspin]

It is illogical to blame or credit Imran (if you are a fan of Babar’s captaincy) for this decision because it was obvious since 2018-19 that Babar will be Pakistan’s next long term all format captain after Sarfraz.

Azhar Ali was only a temporary, stop gap solution. There was no other options besides Babar. The only influence Imran might have had is accelerating the process of making Babar captain which in the long term didn’t make much of a difference.

Babar is a poor captain but you need to find a viable replacement first.

Shadab is a rubbish cricketer and he is finally losing his status as Pakistan’s golden boy. It should have happened years ago. Besides, his captaincy has been badly exposed in PSL.

Imad’s captaincy was also very poor in the recent PSL. There is no evidence that he will make better use of the resources available in the national team.

As far as Masood is concerned, anyone who advocated for him at any point or still advocates for him needs to visit the local mental hospital because a sound mind cannot come up with something so absurd.

The only realistic and genuine candidates to replace Babar are Rizwan and Shaheen. Two automatic picks who have impressed with their captaincy in PSL.

Shaheen would be the more exciting choice but he needs to focus on his bowling in the short term and get his pace back to 140+.

Rizwan is a safe bet - he can take over as captain in white ball cricket and I wouldn’t mind Sarfraz serving as a stop gap in Test cricket.

I wouldn’t want Rizwan captaining in all three formats and keeping as well. It will not end well for him and for Pakistan.

This is what I would suggest:

Rizwan ODI/T20 captain and Sarfraz Test captain for 12-18 months.

In 12-18 months, or until Sarfraz is worthy of playing Tests, Rizwan can become the Test captain and Shaheen can take over in ODIs/T20s provided that he is back to his best.

In the previous season, Babar was captain for KK and we saw how that turned out - 1 win out of his 10 games and they finished rock bottom.

Under Imad's leadership, they've made progress, having won 3 out of their 10 matches and also climbed once place up the table. They're on track to make the play-offs next year.

Imad is definitely one of the few suitable contenders to take over from Babar because he's a natural leader and has the mental attributes to be a successful captain. He's one of the few players who looks calm and in control when the stakes are high. Fine example of this was during that famous win against Afghanistan in the 2019 WC.

I don't agree that there were no other valid options beside Babar, after the 2019 WC, for the following reasons:

1. He's not a natural leader
2. Doesn't have the tactical nous to get field placings, bowling changes and etc right
3. He's selfish and has always been milestone driven
4. He has zero track record when it comes to captaincy. Not only has he failed for Pakistan, it's been miserable for him at U19, domestic and also during PSL

The bottom line is there was never anything going for Babar. Being established and a proven performer alone doesn't make you a prospective captain.

 

[shamaan]

Bro there has been 0 improvement. The mistakes that he made in world t20 2021 are still being repeated in 2023

Whilst I agree but we should not change captaincy for the odi format now until after the world cup

 

[Snowflake]

Lol.

Because IK can only recommend, but it’s not his call.

Also, Babar was the natural choice then. However, No one could predict he’d be such a poor captain

 

[heddie19]

I was nodding along to every point until you had to say that...

Babar had three golden opportunities to win a major T20 tournament and screwed all of them up thanks to a string of poor captaincy decisions.

The best teams don't necessarily win these T20 tournaments, but a half-decent skipper would've capitalised on the advantages we had at these events. The 2021 WC was played in our adopted home of UAE; the 2022 Asia Cup Final was against a weak Sri Lanka who we reduced to 58-5 (and STILL lost); and the Dutch gave us the biggest helping hand possible at the 2022 World Cup by beating South Africa.

You cannot also compare his captaincy record with previous skippers because white-ball bilaterals nowadays are an afterthought - glorified friendlies with weakened teams where the star players are jetting off to lucrative T20 leagues. Look at this NZ team we're facing now, or the Australia ODI side last year who we beat.

His Test record is diabolical. I cannot forgive Babar for wasting the most historic year of Test cricket in Pakistan history in 2022 when Australia, England and New Zealand toured for the first time in decades, and we failed to win a SINGLE Test thanks to cowardly tactics and inept selections (Zahid Mehmood over Abrar Ahmed !) All three series were debacles culminating in the "below the belt" declaration which nearly giftwrapped NZL a Test which plumbed the depths of stupidity.

He's never been successful as captain in U19s, domestic or PSL. I don't blame PCB for appointing him in 2019 for sheer lack of options, but they deserve every bit of blame for retaining him now when there are genuine alternatives.

I don't consider Asia cup as a major tourney. But if you wana talk about it, we lost it due to poor planning in chasing. Ifti and Rizwan had a decent partnership but IDK why. Shoud captain be blamed? Yes. I believe every loss is on captain whether it is a loss by poor captaincy or even if it has nothing to do with captaincy.

2021 WC SF, I know we're not winning it as soon as we lost the toss. That was the most toss dependant tourney I have ever seen. We did win good tosses and good matches there. If I compare Babar's captaincy from that SF, I see him as an improved captain.

2022 WC Final, We batted poor, set up a poor total. Nothing captain could have done.

I agree with the test matches part, that's why I mentioned "white ball".

We have fallen very deep from Misbah's era in red ball. Mohammad Abbas should never have dropped from test sides. I won't defend Babar on recent test performances though.

Regarding genuine options, the only option we have is Rizwan. Shaheen isn't fit to play every game unfortunately, Shadab is off colors too recently and doesn't want to longer format of the game (afridi-esque).

That leaves us with Rizwan only. I wouldn't mind if Rizwan is made captain after the WC, but I am not in favor of having different captains in different formats especially if your captain plays all 3 formats. He should be leading Tests, ODIs, T20is.

No one sensible will change your captain 5 matches prior to the ODI WC.

 

[PakPremi]

Bro there has been 0 improvement. The mistakes that he made in world t20 2021 are still being repeated in 2023

No they not I was one of the first to blame Babar for poor captaincy but I do see a marginal improvement in his captaincy and the teams squads and final selections are whole lot better, and we are now even rotating some players. He is still a poor captain that much we can agree upon.

 

[Major]

Whilst I agree but we should not change captaincy for the odi format now until after the world cup

than thats means losing the upcoming world cup and waiting for the next one in 5 years

 

[Major]

No they not I was one of the first to blame Babar for poor captaincy but I do see a marginal improvement in his captaincy and the teams squads and final selections are whole lot better, and we are now even rotating some players. He is still a poor captain that much we can agree upon.

Rotating players means nothing, his on field captaincy is ridiculous. He doesnt know how to use 5th and 6th bower end ups losing the game cause of that

 

[Rana]

OP trying to deflect Misbah’s blunders on others

 

[DeadlyVenom]

How exactly does one hold him responsible?

 

[Rana]

How exactly does one hold him responsible?

By shifting the blame from Misbah

 

[DeadlyVenom]

By shifting the blame from Misbah

I am a big fan of Misbahs playing career.

But his coaching career was a car crash.

 

[MenInG]

Think it's silly to blame one person for institutional decisions. PCB as an organization took a decision.

The same way those in charge can take the decision to remove BA if there is a better option.

 

[Major]

Think it's silly to blame one person for institutional decisions. PCB as an organization took a decision.

The same way those in charge can take the decision to remove BA if there is a better option.

PCB did not take the decision, it was the decision of the PM who forced it on PCB

 

[Major]

How exactly does one hold him responsible?

by atleast criticizing him, caling a spade a spade and making the future constitution as such that Patron of chief doesnt need to exist or influence decision on PCB

 

[MenInG]

PCB did not take the decision, it was the decision of the PM who forced it on PCB

Once again. Institutional decisions do not work that way. Imran may like Babar but he cannot keep Babar on when he is failing.

By that logic, is Shehbaz Sharif now asking Sethi to keep Babar? IF he is then that is a huge issue also and maybe you should start writing about that too.

Does that make sense to you?

Babar was appointed captain as the best player in your side is usually chosen as captain - someone who can keep his position in the side.

 

[Savak]

Don't think removing Sarfaraz as a captain was the wrong decision. To completely ignore him as a player all these years was definitely a blunder. There is no better player of spin bowling than Sarfaraz in the team.

 

[Colorblind Genius]

Alot of fans criticize Babar and everyone involved in the PCB for making Babar the captain, even Misbah was criticized for this aswell. Yet alot don't know how Babar Azam was made the captain.

It happened like this, Azhar ALi was captain, and Misbah, Azhar and Hafeez decided to meet Imran Khan to discuss about department cricket. Alot of cricketers were job less and these three decided to go discuss this. This meeting took place during when Azhar had not captained the team well..

PCB under Wasim Khan took offence to this and said they should had approached Imran Khan through them and not act as independently.

When they met Imran, he wasnt too happy, and even instructed Azhar Ali be removed as captain and babar was suggested as the captain

So why isn't the criticism directed at the ex pm who intervened in our cricket administration. Pakistan lost the world t20 2021, 2022, Asia Cup 2022 and maybe world cup 2023 all because of this decision of Imran Khan.

Why no criticism?

Hmmmmm
Should Imran Khan be credite to appoint Baber as the captain who lead the team to No - 1 ranking in ODI’s?

 

[MenInG]

Hmmmmm
Should Imran Khan be credite to appoint Baber as the captain who lead the team to No - 1 ranking in ODI’s?

It was his foresight.

 

[Bewal Express]

Well done Babar for taking PK to number 1. Do we credit IK for making him captain

 

[heddie19]

Babar Azam Zindabaad
Imran Khan Zindabaad
Pakistan Zindabaad

 

[MenInG]

Speaking to a local journalist, Imran Khan :

"I haven't recently seen cricket, but I believe that Virat Kohli and Babar Azam belong to the same class. Babar Azam can surpass Virat Kohli; he is that good, from what I have seen,"

 

[Major]

the question still stands

 

[saqib.rai]

Alot of fans criticize Babar and everyone involved in the PCB for making Babar the captain, even Misbah was criticized for this aswell. Yet alot don't know how Babar Azam was made the captain.

It happened like this, Azhar ALi was captain, and Misbah, Azhar and Hafeez decided to meet Imran Khan to discuss about department cricket. Alot of cricketers were job less and these three decided to go discuss this. This meeting took place during when Azhar had not captained the team well..

PCB under Wasim Khan took offence to this and said they should had approached Imran Khan through them and not act as independently.

When they met Imran, he wasnt too happy, and even instructed Azhar Ali be removed as captain and babar was suggested as the captain

So why isn't the criticism directed at the ex pm who intervened in our cricket administration. Pakistan lost the world t20 2021, 2022, Asia Cup 2022 and maybe world cup 2023 all because of this decision of Imran Khan.

Why no criticism?

The problem with being a one sport country is that 'sports journalists ' have all the free time in the world during the off season.

As they also lack any money making skill, this time off results in them cooking stories in their heads. So they come up with such news.

Who told you Imran Khan made Babar captain? Do you have the standing that Imran Khan or Babar Azam will tell you themselves?

Let's assume Imran Khan did make Babar Azam captain, its still better than having a captain who used racial slurs against an opposition player and got banned for it. Disgraceful.

Imran Khan and other greats always say the best player should be the captain. And they have earned the right to hold such an opinion. Have you earned the right to disagree with it?

 

[TheSultan]

Let’s even assume Imran Khan is responsible, Imran hardly followed cricket in any depth (by his own admission) and I don’t even think he was emotionally invested enough to fight to make babar captain. Imran may have looked at the team, asked who’s the player that is elite and can raise the team with his performance, recommended Babar. If the geniuses in charge at the time thought otherwise I don’t think it would have been much of a bun fight to change his mind. Imran had bigger fish to fry!

So it still comes down to the PCB, CS, Coach for making him captain.

And even if it may have seemed a good idea at the time. His first few series exposed how useless he was at the job and how unnatural that responsibility fit on him. I remember in 2020 we even brought sarfraz back for a t20 game and let him run the show in the background because Babar was so useless.

But we just keep rolling on in the hope that he’ll enlighten his mind a bit and improve. And he himself has been pathetic with his own ambition. Surely develop yourself a bit, learn more about the game, speak to others. But he’s done zilch and even now 3 whole years later he’s following schoolboy tactics.

But people just keep rolling on. You had options. You can try Imad, you could have swallowed your pride and brought sarfraz back at least for tests. Even if you didn’t have options, take a punt, try Shaheen with an able deputy when shaheen needs to be rested. Look at SL they change captains all the time. They have an Asia Cup to their name and are in the final of another one, they won a test series in SA.

Stop being so scared.

 

[saqib.rai]

Let’s even assume Imran Khan is responsible, Imran hardly followed cricket in any depth (by his own admission) and I don’t even think he was emotionally invested enough to fight to make babar captain. Imran may have looked at the team, asked who’s the player that is elite and can raise the team with his performance, recommended Babar. If the geniuses in charge at the time thought otherwise I don’t think it would have been much of a bun fight to change his mind. Imran had bigger fish to fry!

So it still comes down to the PCB, CS, Coach for making him captain.

And even if it may have seemed a good idea at the time. His first few series exposed how useless he was at the job and how unnatural that responsibility fit on him. I remember in 2020 we even brought sarfraz back for a t20 game and let him run the show in the background because Babar was so useless.

But we just keep rolling on in the hope that he’ll enlighten his mind a bit and improve. And he himself has been pathetic with his own ambition. Surely develop yourself a bit, learn more about the game, speak to others. But he’s done zilch and even now 3 whole years later he’s following schoolboy tactics.

But people just keep rolling on. You had options. You can try Imad, you could have swallowed your pride and brought sarfraz back at least for tests. Even if you didn’t have options, take a punt, try Shaheen with an able deputy when shaheen needs to be rested. Look at SL they change captains all the time. They have an Asia Cup to their name and are in the final of another one, they won a test series in SA.

Stop being so scared.

I grew up watching Pakistan throwing matches away so that the captain could be replaced.

Against Sri Lanka in early 2009 to remove Shoaib Malik and in late 2009 against New Zealand to remove Younis Khan.

I don't want to go through that again and neither do cricket fans.

The PCB can just tell Babar to take a backseat, we have a Director, a coach, an analyst. Let them make the decisions when Pakistan is batting and when we are bowling, let Shaheen/Rizwan take the decisions and convey to Babar.

But Babar remains captain as he is our best player and THE GLUE THAT HOLDS THIS TEAM TOGETHER.

how difficult can this be?

 

[TheSultan]

I grew up watching Pakistan throwing matches away so that the captain could be replaced.

Against Sri Lanka in early 2009 to remove Shoaib Malik and in late 2009 against New Zealand to remove Younis Khan.

I don't want to go through that again and neither do cricket fans.

The PCB can just tell Babar to take a backseat, we have a Director, a coach, an analyst. Let them make the decisions when Pakistan is batting and when we are bowling, let Shaheen/Rizwan take the decisions and convey to Babar.

But Babar remains captain as he is our best player and THE GLUE THAT HOLDS THIS TEAM TOGETHER.

how difficult can this be?

I mean this in the best way possible so don’t take it badly, but I don’t really care that people “don’t want to go back to the dark days etc etc”. The PCB should not care about it either.

That is not a good enough reason to keep an absolute schoolboy as captain.

And all this “babar is the glue”. We’ve seen that glue getting less sticky with the shadab rumours.

And even if he is “the glue”, he’s only the glue that keeps this current mediocre team together. Would he be the glue if Imad, Sarfraz , Amir were in there, or if anyone else from outside the friend circle comes in?

Sorry to say but that is a weak excuse to keep babar in.

What is this, a kids XI that everyone must get along

 

[mominsaigol]

I mean this in the best way possible so don’t take it badly, but I don’t really care that people “don’t want to go back to the dark days etc etc”. The PCB should not care about it either.

That is not a good enough reason to keep an absolute schoolboy as captain.

And all this “babar is the glue”. We’ve seen that glue getting less sticky with the shadab rumours.

And even if he is “the glue”, he’s only the glue that keeps this current mediocre team together. Would he be the glue if Imad, Sarfraz , Amir were in there, or if anyone else from outside the friend circle comes in?

Sorry to say but that is a weak excuse to keep babar in.

What is this, a kids XI that everyone must get along

The problem is, we shouldn't be using the whole dark days as an excuse. Our think tank is literally

" We have a decent team, do you want to go back to the dark days?"

Whereas our think tank should be

" Let's create a killer team, one that is capable of bringing the world cup home"

We didn't make much improvement, We replaced incompetent and absymal accumulators in the form of nasir, Ahmed and asad and replaced with them compotent accumulators like fakhar (When in form), Imam, and Babar.

This isn't a step in the right direction, it's just a small fix, in an era where you have Devon Conway, bairstow, Gill, quinton deqock opening, what is imam doing at the top?

Our middle order is ironically worse then the dark days. The dark days had a weak middle order but I'd still take umar akmal, Shahid afridi, Misbah and younis khan/hafeez or whoever pakistan batted at no 4 during those days then shadab, Faheem/Nawaz, Chacha, Agha and Rizwan. This middle order is the worst I've ever seen.

Even worse then our 2019 middle order as haris sohail was their who cracked an 89 against SA, as well as hafeez, malik, Sarfraz, Imad not being the best but still doing okay especially imad against afghanistan. These guys thay we have now are literal tailenders.

 

[saqib.rai]

I mean this in the best way possible so don’t take it badly, but I don’t really care that people “don’t want to go back to the dark days etc etc”. The PCB should not care about it either.

That is not a good enough reason to keep an absolute schoolboy as captain.

And all this “babar is the glue”. We’ve seen that glue getting less sticky with the shadab rumours.

And even if he is “the glue”, he’s only the glue that keeps this current mediocre team together. Would he be the glue if Imad, Sarfraz , Amir were in there, or if anyone else from outside the friend circle comes in?

Sorry to say but that is a weak excuse to keep babar in.

What is this, a kids XI that everyone must get along

Were you watching cricket when we were deliberately throwing matches away to change the captain? If you were, you wouldn't be saying this.

Anyways, who should be the captain if not Babar? Everyone here is wanting Shadab to be dropped, they were wanting Rizwan to be dropped as well 2 days ago lol
Shaheen? If you have seen Shaheen field, you would get the idea that his days as an international cricket are limited. He is not the same athlete he was before getting the injury last year. Very soon, he would limit himself to t20 only.

And with all these analysts and coaches in our support staff, do you really think Babar is at the helm of affairs? Or he is the only person to be blamed? Its a whole group that is at fault.

Plus Babar has won the most t20 matches EVER as captain. Got us to number 1 in ODI. the last test series we played, we whitewashed the opposition.

In international cricket with so much support staff, a captain is just the face of the team and nothing else. The only criteria should be whether the captain is an automatic selection in the 11 or not.

 

[Rana]

Were you watching cricket when we were deliberately throwing matches away to change the captain? If you were, you wouldn't be saying this.

Anyways, who should be the captain if not Babar? Everyone here is wanting Shadab to be dropped, they were wanting Rizwan to be dropped as well 2 days ago lol
Shaheen? If you have seen Shaheen field, you would get the idea that his days as an international cricket are limited. He is not the same athlete he was before getting the injury last year. Very soon, he would limit himself to t20 only.

And with all these analysts and coaches in our support staff, do you really think Babar is at the helm of affairs? Or he is the only person to be blamed? Its a whole group that is at fault.

Plus Babar has won the most t20 matches EVER as captain. Got us to number 1 in ODI. the last test series we played, we whitewashed the opposition.

In international cricket with so much support staff, a captain is just the face of the team and nothing else. The only criteria should be whether the captain is an automatic selection in the 11 or not.

What are you waffling on about?

Which games in 2009 did they purposely throw to remove the captain?

 

[saqib.rai]

What are you waffling on about?

Which games in 2009 did they purposely throw to remove the captain?

Pak vs Sri Lanka- 3rd ODI at Lahore in January 2009 to remove Shoaib Malik

and the famous Pak vs NZ - 3rd ODI at Abu Dhabi in Nov 2009 to remove Younis Khan

where Amir and Ajmal nearly got us home with the bat. Still cant forget Kamran Akmal's face when Pakistan were inching towards victory. He couldn't even hide his displeasure

I so wish social media was there at that time. Or its use was more. My blood boils when I see characters involved in such activites sit on tv and criticize our current team. I started watching cricket in 2004 and have heard that the 90s were even worse.

And you look surprised about Pakistan throwing matches away purposely lol look up Hong Kong super sixes final in 2010. Shoaib Malik is captain and Imran Nazir is bowling the last over. Even if he concedes sixes in all balls of the last over, we win. But guess what, he starts bowling no balls, wides and also concedes sixes. We lose. Woke up early morning to watch that match.

The ICC kept Malik away from the World Cup in 2011 after this and we had to play Asad Shafiq instead. Now Malik is regarded a 'legend'

Jab Babar, Shaheen, Rizwan, Shadab nahi hoon gei only then will people understand their worth. Honest, talented, hard-working cricketers.

 

[ayemgilani86]

Rotating players means nothing, his on field captaincy is ridiculous. He doesnt know how to use 5th and 6th bower end ups losing the game cause of that

all of our ex captains since Inzi have had horrible on field captaincy, besides Younis Khan's short stint

 

[TheSultan]

Pak vs Sri Lanka- 3rd ODI at Lahore in January 2009 to remove Shoaib Malik

and the famous Pak vs NZ - 3rd ODI at Abu Dhabi in Nov 2009 to remove Younis Khan

where Amir and Ajmal nearly got us home with the bat. Still cant forget Kamran Akmal's face when Pakistan were inching towards victory. He couldn't even hide his displeasure

I so wish social media was there at that time. Or its use was more. My blood boils when I see characters involved in such activites sit on tv and criticize our current team. I started watching cricket in 2004 and have heard that the 90s were even worse.

And you look surprised about Pakistan throwing matches away purposely lol look up Hong Kong super sixes final in 2010. Shoaib Malik is captain and Imran Nazir is bowling the last over. Even if he concedes sixes in all balls of the last over, we win. But guess what, he starts bowling no balls, wides and also concedes sixes. We lose. Woke up early morning to watch that match.

The ICC kept Malik away from the World Cup in 2011 after this and we had to play Asad Shafiq instead. Now Malik is regarded a 'legend'

Jab Babar, Shaheen, Rizwan, Shadab nahi hoon gei only then will people understand their worth. Honest, talented, hard-working cricketers.

Hong Kong sixes??! Seriously? Who even cares about that. I seriously doubt any captain would be removed if they lost the Hong Kong sixes.

Underperforming in a Hong Kong sixes match to remove the captain is an exercise in futility at best and just plain dumb at worst!

The other 2009 matches you’re talking about don’t ring a bell.

The only serious match-fixing game which has serious question marks is the infamous Sydney test in 2009/10. I don’t know what was going on there but I don’t think the purpose was to remove the captain.

 

[saqib.rai]

Hong Kong sixes??! Seriously? Who even cares about that. I seriously doubt any captain would be removed if they lost the Hong Kong sixes.

Underperforming in a Hong Kong sixes match to remove the captain is an exercise in futility at best and just plain dumb at worst!

The other 2009 matches you’re talking about don’t ring a bell.

The only serious match-fixing game which has serious question marks is the infamous Sydney test in 2009/10. I don’t know what was going on there but I don’t think the purpose was to remove the captain.

Please do not misinterpret me.

The first 2 matches that I wrote about
1) vs Sri Lanka at Lahore in January 2009 where we got all out for 75
2) vs New Zealand at Abu Dhabi in November 2009. The one where Amir and Ajmal nearly got us home.
Were deliberately lost to remove the captains. In the first case Shoaib Malik and in the second case Younis Khan.

Rana seemed surprised that Pakistan would throw matches purposely so I gave the example of
The Hong Kong super sixes match which was fixed. Not to remove the captain but to earn some cash.
It was so evident as I have described in my last post that the ICC disallowed PCB to select the captain in that match Shoaib Malik in Pakistan's 2011 World Cup squad. Till the investigation was complete. Google it.

*** if the NZ match where Amir and Ajmal nearly got us home doesn't ring a bell then its pointless debating with you. As you weren't watching cricket at that time.

 

[nuttyprof]

Guys, Babar and Pak team do not regularly play top teams where their deficiencies get exposed. One match when top 4 of Indian team perform, everyone wants Babar's head on the chopping block. Babar and the fast bowlers have raised the standard of the team so far, it is commendable. Nobody in Indian team was particularly worried about Pak team since 2013 to 2022. Babar and his team are a formidable team, have patience. Do not discount hard conditions in which Pak team playes.

 

[aukhan]

He was never the right choice. Making him the captain was one of the many blunders the former PM made during his highly questionable tenure.

 

[FastBowlingAllrounder]

He was never the right choice. Making him the captain was one of the many blunders the former PM made during his highly questionable tenure.

The fact that cricket is used as a medium for cricket fans to further their political ideologies, affiliations, and agendas is the reason why we've been a downward decline for years and are today losing to Afghanistan.