Watch: Shoaib Akhtar blasts PCB over Babar Azam's resignation as Pakistan's captain across formats

Babar Azam resigns as captain of Pakistan after the World Cup 2023 debacle.

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 didn’t end up as per expectations for a number of teams. Pakistan were certainly one of those. They entered the tournament as one of the favourites because the tournament was played in subcontinent. A number of former cricketers predicted Pakistan would make it to the semis. But the end result was totally different. Babar Azam and his men lost five games in the tournament.

This was the first time in their history that they lost five matches in a single World Cup event. Babar himself was not up to the mark. His form was not as good as he was expected to deliver. Babar entered the tournament as the No. 1 ranked batter and was dethroned in the middle of the tournament. All in all, it didn’t go as Babar Azam would have liked as a captain.

Shoaib Akhtar blasts PCB for mishandling of Babar Azam after ICC Cricket World Cup 2023

Babar Azam scored 320 runs in nine innings at an average of 40 and a strike rate of 82.90. He scored four half-centuries but couldn’t make a big impact throughout the tournament. Apart from that, his captaincy was also below par. The poor performances of other star players also didn’t help his cause. As a result, a lot of questions were raised over the captaincy. Eventually, Babar quit the captaincy in all three formats, which came as a shock to many.

Former Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar blasted Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for mishandling Babar’s case and showed his disapproval over the captaincy debacle. Akhtar said, “The treatment with Babar Azam (by PCB) was unjust. I categorically say that in such a short time, he should not have been removed from the captaincy of Test matches. Even though he said he didn’t want captaincy of all formats and the board was insisting on him captaining Test matches, he shouldn’t have resigned, and he shouldn’t have been pushed out.”

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He also said that PCB should have given Babar some time, but they couldn’t do it. Akhtar blasted PCB and said that this was injustice, and that’s always been the problem in Pakistan. Shaheen Afridi has been appointed as the T20I captain, while Shan Masood will be leading the test side.

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