You’ve no doubt heard of the “Musical Chairs Game” and maybe even played it. The same game, music plays in the background, and once the music stops, people have to sit on a chair. Players who are unable to sit in a chair will exit the game. The game begins again. The captaincy of the Pakistan team also turned into a story of musical chairs.
When who becomes the captain, who comes, who leaves…this farce in the Pakistan team still grabs the headlines. Babar Azam has once again resigned as Pakistan captain in ODI and T20 formats. After this, the question now is, who will captain Pakistan in the white-ball formats (T20 and ODI)? Babar recently said ‘goodbye’ to the captaincy as he wants to focus more on batting.
Dear fans,
Today I have some news to share with you. I have decided to resign as captain of the Pakistan men’s cricket team with effect from notification to the PCB and team management last month.
It has been a privilege to lead this team, but it is time for me to step down and focus…
— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) October 1, 2024
The controversy over Pakistan’s captaincy started after the 2023 ODI World Cup. Pakistan’s performance at the World Cup in India was nothing short of fussy. After the World Cup, Babar Azam resigned as captain of all three formats. Following this, Shan Masood was appointed as the commander of the Test team and Shaheen Afridi was appointed as the captain of the T-20 team. The reins of ODI had not been handed over to anyone at that time.
After the team’s “overhaul” after the World Cup, it now seems that the Pakistan team’s condition may be improving. But if Shan Masood is the captain, the soil becomes purer for Pakistan.
Under Shan Masood, Pakistan played two series but lost both. Under the leadership of Masood, the Pakistan team traveled to Australia and suffered a 3-0 defeat here. Recently, Bangladesh also defeated Pakistan 2-0 in a home Test match. This meant that Pakistan, under the captaincy of Shan Masood, could not leave any ‘Tula’ behind.
After serving as Test captain, he served as T20 captain. After the 2023 World Cup, Shaheen Shah Afridi was appointed captain of the New Zealand tour (played 5 T20 matches between January 12 and January 21). It looked like Shaheen could make a difference in this team, but under his leadership, New Zealand defeated Pakistan 1-4 in the five-match series.
After that, the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) changed the captain again due to increased pressure. The T20 captain’s position was taken away by Shaheen and given to Babar Azam again. Thereafter, New Zealand’s second-tier side came to Pakistan and tied the five-match T20 series at 2-2. Pakistan then traveled to Ireland for a three-match T20 series, where Ireland defeated them in one match. However, Pakistan eventually won the series 2-1.
Pakistan thus began their tour of England, losing 2-0 in the four-match series. In the T20 World Cup, under the leadership of captain Babar, Pakistan once again found themselves in trouble. After the ODI World Cup, Pakistan has not played a new game in this format.
Who is Pakistan’s current captain in the white-ball format?
Shan Masood has been under pressure since taking over the captaincy of Pakistan’s Test team from Babar Azam, with the team having lost all five Test matches during his tenure. However, Shan Masood remains the captain of Pakistan team. Now even Babar Azam has left the ODI and T20 captaincy. In such a situation, the question is who will be in charge of the Pakistan team in both formats?
First let’s talk about the T20 format. Babar Azam played 85 T20 matches for Pakistan, of which Pakistan won 48, lost 29, drew 1 and 7 ended without a result. Babar has captained Pakistan the most times in this format. Among the currently active players, Shadab Khan (6 games), Qasim Akram (3 games), Shaheen Shah Afridi (5 games) and Sarfaraz Ahmed (5 games) serve as the captain of the team.
Talking about Pakistan ODI captain, among the current players, apart from Babar, only Sarfaraz Ahmed (50 games) and Imad Wasim (2 games) have commanded the team. But it will be difficult for either of them to become captains in the short term. Because Sarfaraz is 37 years old, he has been absent from the team in both ODI and T20 formats since 2021.
Imad Wasim is also 35 years old. He recently returned during the T20 World Cup, but his chances of becoming captain are also zero.
Meanwhile, Babar captained Pakistan in 43 ODI matches between 2020 and 2023, during which they won 26, lost 15, drew 1 and had 1 inconclusive game.
What options does Pakistan have?
Many former Pakistan captains have also come forward to advise Pakistan captains in the white-ball format. Younis Khan has suggested Fakhar Zaman or Mohammad Rizwan to replace Babar Azam as captain of the ODI and T20 teams. Meanwhile, Rashid Latif also raised Rizwan’s name. Apart from him, some other ODI captaincy candidates have also been suggested, who have been performing consistently for Pakistan in recent times. Rashid, 55, said – Shadab (Khan) is a good candidate, Haris (Rauf) is also a good candidate, Salman Ali Agha is also an option.
Meanwhile, there are reports that apart from Shadab Khan and Rizwan, Sam Ayub, Shan Masood and Shaheen Afridi are other candidates who can be appointed captain or vice-captain.
