PCB reappoints Babar Azam as Pakistan's captain ahead of T20 World Cup 2024

Before T20 World Cup 2024, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reappointed Babar Azam as the white ball captain. PCB has confirmed the news by issuing a post on its official Twitter handle.  

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Afridi failed as a captain 

Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi was captaining the Pakistan cricket team for some time. Recently, under the captaincy of Shaheen, Pakistan had to face a 4-1 defeat against New Zealand. This is the reason why PCB does not want to take any kind of risk before the T20 World Cup 2024 and once again they expressed confidence in Babar Azam and made him the captain of their team.

PCB shared a video on its official Twitter handle

PCB has shared a video on its official Twitter handle (X), in which Babar Azam is seen talking to PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi. While posting this video it was written,  “Following unanimous recommendation from the PCB’s selection committee, Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi has appointed Babar Azam as white-ball (ODI and T20I) captain of the Pakistan men’s cricket team,” 

Babar Azam left the captaincy after ODI World Cup 

After Pakistan's poor performance in the ICC ODI World Cup, Babar Azam had announced to step down from captaincy from all formats on November 15. After that, Afridi was made the captain of Pakistan T20 cricket team in place of Babar Azam. Shaheen’s appointment was made on the basis of his ability to lead Lahore Qalandars franchise in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) to two successive titles.

Pakistan's record under the captaincy of Babar Azam

Under the captaincy of Babar, Pakistan has not been able to win any ICC trophy. Pakistan reached the semi-finals in the 2021 T20 World Cup and the final in the 2022 T20 World Cup. At the same time, Pakistan could not even make its place in the last 4 in the 2023 ODI World Cup. The ICC T20 World Cup 2024 will begin on June 1 in the USA and the West Indies.

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Babar's records for Pakistan 

Till now Babar has scored 3898 runs in 52 Test matches, 5729 runs in 117 ODI matches and 3698 runs in 109 T20 Internationals. He is also included in the list of best T20 batsmen in ICC rankings.