Uncertainty looms over Babar Azam's decision on Pakistan's white-ball captaincy

TOI Sports Desk / TIMESOFINDIA.COM / Mar 30, 2024, 13:03 IST

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The Pakistan Cricket Board has offered Babar Azam the captaincy for white-ball formats, but he has not yet made a decision. Babar has stipulated conditions for accepting the captaincy, including a role in coach selection. He wants to lead the team across all three formats. However, the national selection committee is divided.

Uncertainty looms over Babar Azam's decision on Pakistan's white-ball captaincy

Babar Azam. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

NEW DELHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has offered Babar Azam the captaincy for the white-ball formats, but the star batsman is yet to make a decision, sources close to the matter have revealed.
According to insiders, Babar has stipulated certain conditions for accepting the captaincy, notably including a role in the selection of coaches. He has expressed his desire to lead the team across all three formats of the game.
However, the national selection committee appears to be divided on this issue.Notably, a former Punjab caretaker minister, despite lacking a cricketing background, opposes granting full authority to Babar.
"Some members of the selection committee now feel the best thing is to let Shaheen Shah Afridi continue as captain for the home T20 series against New Zealand in April and give him a chance to prove his credentials," disclosed a source familiar with the matter.

Amidst this division, selectors, including Muhammad Yousuf, Asad Shafiq, Abdul Razzaq, Wahab Riaz, and former minister Bilal Afzal, have urged PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi to make the final decision.
"They made their opinions clear to the PCB chief and have now asked him to make a final call, and Naqvi has told them to convince Babar to accept the white-ball captaincy for now," added the source.
Whereas, uncertainty looms over the appointment of foreign coaches for the national team. The PCB has faced refusals from several candidates, including Adam Voges, Luke Ronchi,

Shane Watson, and Mike Hesson.
Currently, negotiations are underway with Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillispie for the roles of white-ball and red-ball coaches, respectively. However, there's a potential hurdle as both candidates insist on bringing their own support staff, whereas the PCB aims to incorporate local players in assistant specialist coaching roles.
(With inputs from PTI)

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