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Four months after being removed from the leadership role across formats, following a poor outing in the 2023 ODI World Cup in India, Babar Azam has been reappointed as the captain of Pakistan cricket team, thus replacing Shaheen Afridi in the position. The decision was made official by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday, two months before the start of the ICC T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies.
Pakistan could not make the knockout stage of the 50-over World Cup last year, which led to Babar relinquishing captaincy. PCB, who made wholesome changes following the tournament, put pace spearhead Shaheen in charge of the T20I squad, while Shan Masood was named the Test captain.
In four months hence, Pakistan played only a five-match T20I series against New Zealand, but were hammered 1-4 in the contest. And this was followed by a poor captaincy outing by Afridi in the recently-concluded Pakistan Super League season where Lahore Qalandars managed only a solitary win out of ten matches to finish bottom of the table.
“Following unanimous recommendation from the PCB’s selection committee, Chairman Mohsin Naqvi has appointed Babar Azam as white-ball captain of the Pakistan men’s cricket team,” the Pakistan Cricket Board said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. The current committee comprises Wahab Riaz, Asad Shafiq, Abdul Razzaq and Mohammad Yousuf.
Babar will lead next lead Pakistan in a five-match T20I series at home against New Zealand, followed by four away games against England before they kick off their T20 World Cup campaign.
Pakistan will play their opening World Cup game on June 6 against co-hosts USA at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas before taking on arch-rivals India in the blockbuster tie in New York on June 9. Other teams clubbed with Pakistan in Group A of the ICC event are Ireland and Canada.
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