Babar Azam stepped down as captain of Pakistan after a bad campaign during the ODI World Cup last year. This forced Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to name fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi as the team captain. However, Shaheen’s stint as captain lasted only one series leading to a situation where former Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi is unhappy about it again in view of Pakistan’s poor showings at the ongoing T20 World Cup in US and West Indies.
In March this year, following repeat refusal by PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi to endorse him as captain, Babar was reinstate to lead in T20Is and ODIs.
This got the attention of the aforementioned allrounder who is also Shaheen’s father-in-law; he expresse his surprise and promised full support for Babar. However, since their defeats at the hands of USA minnows and traditional rivals India, there has been a growing chorus of disapproval against that decision following Pakistan 2009 T20 World Cup triumph over removing Shaheen from captaincy too early for him.
“Har insaan ki apni soch hai. Mai isko iss tarah leta hu ke meri nazar mei, duniya ki nazar mei, Babar Azam ki izzat aur zyad upar ho jaati agar woh ye stand leta apne player ke liye ki ‘main Shaheen ki kaptaani mei khelna chahta hu…Shaheen ko agar bana diya kaptaan toh ye galat tareeqa hai ke aap usko fauran kaptaani se hata dein’ (everyone has his own opinion. How I see it is that in my eyes and the eyes of the world, respect for Babar would have grown had he said at the time that he will play under Shaheen’s captaincy and that it was wrong to remove Shaheen as captain so early),” said Afridi on a Pakistan news channel.
Furthermore, this is also indication of absence of leader respect in among the dressing room players. According to Afridi,”Whenever there is grouping it means that the captain’s respect in the dressing room among the players is going down.”
Babar never takes responsibility for any loss and always accuses bowlers when asked about their performances throughout post-match speeches.”At every presentation you (Babar) criticise the bowlers..You never take responsibility. I haven’t heard, other than on an odd occasion, that you put responsibilty (of a defeat) on the batsmen.
Afridi frequently called his ‘Lala’ once said “A captain has to take everybody forward with him…If a captain is of a strong character, then news like formation of groups in the team will never come out.”
Pakistan registered their first victory at this tournament against Canada on Tuesday thus kept alive their chances of qualification for ‘Super 8’. However, they are not entirely in control of their fate. Pakistan therefore needs to win its last game against Ireland besides hoping results in other remaining matches go their way after beating Canada in its third match played on Wednesday afternoon.
