Babar Azam shocked the world on Tuesday night with his resignation from Pakistan’s white-ball captaincy, however, there is more to the story behind his decision.
While Babar said that he wants to focus more on his batting, former Pakistan pacer Yasir Arafat thinks that white-ball head coach Gary Kirsten played a key role in Babar’s resignation.
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The T20 World Cup Disaster
Let’s take a step back to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, where Pakistan’s performance left fans pulling their hair out. Pakistan cricket team, for the first time, crashed out of the group stage.
The tournament kicked off with a disastrous loss to the USA, followed by an agonizing defeat to India. Those back-to-back losses were enough to derail Pakistan’s entire campaign and send them packing early.
Fans and media have been calling for Babar’s resignation since the end of Pakistan’s campaign. Fast forward a few months, and Babar fulfilled their wishes by stepping as captain. The timing seemed odd, but if Yasir Arafat’s claims are anything to go by, it all starts to make sense.
Gary Kirsten’s Report
According to Yasir Arafat, the seeds of Babar’s resignation were planted when Gary Kirsten penned a detailed report after Pakistan’s World Cup disaster. This report, which was supposed to be confidential but somehow made its way to the media, highlighted several key issues within the team.
Kirsten reportedly wasn’t convinced that Babar Azam was the right man to lead Pakistan — especially in the T20 format. He analyzed Babar’s captaincy throughout Pakistan’s tour of England and the World Cup, and his conclusions were clear: Babar might not be the ideal fit for the job.
While Kirsten still saw Babar as a good fit for ODI captaincy, he believed that Pakistan needed new leadership in T20s. However, Babar decided to take a different route as he chose to step down from both roles entirely.
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Word has it that Babar had a conversation with a senior PCB official before making the announcement, signalling that he wanted to focus on his batting rather than juggling captaincy and criticism.
With Babar stepping down, the PCB has a big call to make. Mohammad Rizwan is widely tipped to be the next ODI captain, while the young and fiery Mohammad Haris is reportedly in line for the T20I leadership.
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