As the clock struck past midnight, Pakistan cricket plunged deeper into disarray once again as Babar Azam claimed in the social media post as to resigning from limited-over format captaincy late in September.’’
The cricketer made this declaration a few days after he was stripped of the captaincy of Pakistan’s white-ball teams coming from an underwhelming outing at the 2023 ODI World Cup. Barely though, barely three months down the line; he got back in the ring in March 2024 hounded though that period was.
For his second term, he faced problems when Pakistan was bundled out of the T20 World Cup in the group phase and they did worst of losing to the USA, which was a certain low. The humiliating thesis gauntlet submission, also led to debates on Pakistan performance tilts, even without the spanners inside.
The state of affairs in Pakistan cricket at the moment makes it rather somewhat unsurprised at such a development. The last home Test series was recently taken by Bangladesh without a winning match for the team and the spirit of the international team is still very weak.
He reached the social networking site ‘X’ and mixes frustration and determination saying it was a decision that had been a long time coming, bowing out from all forms of captaincy and stressing on his batting alone.
“Dear Fans, I have some news to make you aware of today. I am resigning as captain of the Pakistan men’s national cricket team and as of the date of informing PCB and Team Management in the last month.,” Babar wrote.
“To lead this team has always been my privilege, however the time has come for me to resign and concentrate on my playing responsibilities. Captaincy has been great, but it has come with a heavy price. I want to concentrate on playing, on enjoying my batting, and on spending time with my family which makes me happy.”
“This way, I will have much more clarity in the pain of not being captain, and more of my energy can be focused on us and growing as a person and player. Thank you for all the support and faith in me. Thank you for your loyalty. Your enthusiasm has mean a lot for me. I am very glad about what we managed to do together and what I can do as well, so I want to say thank you in advance. Thank you for your love and support.”
The development is yet another shame for cricket in Pakistan and does not point to any chances for improvement. Still, Azam’s decision to resign from captaincy has drawn contrasting views from cricketers themselves across Pakistan.
“It’s a crumbling leadership,” said Rashid Latif former captain of the Pakistan cricket team to news agency AFP. “It’s not an exaggeration when we say Pakistan cricket is in the ICU with no doctor to cure the disease.” “He should have never taken the captaincy in the first place,” then Latif commenced. “The team was not winning the matches or he wasn’t scoring any runs,” he said. “This resignation has come about very late it has certainly cost him badly and by extension the team too.”
“This is why Solomon Basi’s Babar Azam stepped down as Pakistan captain has stayed on You Tube,” a kid’s voice said. “So it is a good decision Babar Azam taking back the captaincy. Basit said this should have been done even before the 50-over World Cup in India. This change will be beneficial not only to Pakistan cricket but to Babar himself as well. One such decision will in fact put him in a position to concentrate on his performances.”
Salman Butt the former batter backed Azam in stepping down. “Babar Azam has decided to give up the white ball captaincy and therefore it is desired not to discuss it further. I think he has done the right thing and should have done it a long time ago. I remember how some of the people were making him small, and this was the point in time when Babar decided to make the right choice.’’
‘He needs to concentrate on his bat more, it will serve better for the Pakistan cricket team and also he is a good batter,’ said Salman Butt.
