Babar Azam reportedly agreed to return as Pakistan’s Test captain only after receiving assurances that he could eventually regain the captaincy across all three formats.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently reappointed Babar as Test captain, replacing Shan Masood after Pakistan won just four of their 16 Tests under the latter’s leadership.
According to Telecom Asia Sport, two selectors met Babar before his appointment and proposed that he take over the Test side once again. The talismanic batter, the report said, accepted the offer on the condition that he would also be considered for the ODI and T20I captaincy.
“Two selectors met Babar before the announcement of the Test captain on July 5 as they had no option other than Babar for red-ball
captaincy and Babar accepted the role on condition of getting the captaincy in the other two formats as well,” the report quoted a PCB source as saying.
The selectors are said to have agreed in principle but made it clear that Babar would first need to deliver positive results in the Test series against the West Indies and England before any decision on the white-ball captaincy.
“Babar had always wanted to be the sole captain of Pakistan in all three formats, and when he put that condition, the selectors told him that if the team does well in the West Indies and England over five Tests, then he will get the all-format captaincy,” the quoted source added.
Babar was removed as Pakistan’s ODI captain two years ago after poor results in the 2023 World Cup and stepped down from Tests, too, despite having a slightly better record in the longest format. Masood took charge in December 2023 and continues as a specialist batter after his sacking.
Pakistan have a chance of starting Babar’s return on a high in the first Test against the Windies in Trinidad. Ahead of the fourth day, the hosts are batting at 126/7 in the second innings, leading by 155 runs.
