The Reason Behind Babar Azam’s Decision To Resign Revealed

Pakistan’s key batsman and now former captain, Babar Azam, shocked the world by announcing his decision to leave Pakistan team captaincy late last night. Babar made the decision public on his social media platforms. 

“Dear Fans, I’m sharing some news with you today. I have decided to resign as captain of the Pakistan men’s cricket team, effective as of my notification to the PCB and Team Management last month,” read Azam’s statement. 

“It’s been an honor to lead this team, but it’s time for me to step down and focus on my playing role,” he added.

Despite Babar citing the reason to focus on his individual performance as the reason behind his decision to quit captaincy, sources have revealed that other factors also played a major role in his shocking decision. 

According to anonymous sources, Pakistan’s white-ball head coach Gary Kirsten wanted to remove Babar as captain from the T20I format. 

However, it’s worth noting that Kirsten wanted him to continue as the captain of the ODI team. 

The sources further revealed that Gary submitted his report after Pakistan’s disastrous ICC T20 World Cup 2024 campaign in July and discussed his plans for a potential captaincy change with Babar as well.

But Babar decided to adopt the all or none strategy and quit both, ODI and T20I captaincy. Did this decision come from a man with a wounded ego or was it in the pipeline since the past few months? 

Unlike many other cricketers, Babar followed the proper protocol of resigning. He informed a top Pakistan Cricket Board official of his decision before he took to social media. 

Babar was first made the T20 captain in 2019, before taking charge of the Test and ODI teams in 2020.

This was his second tenure as the captain of the PCT. His first tenure ended in November 2023 following Pakistan’s abysmal run at the ICC Men’s ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.

Around that time, Babar quit captaincy in all three formats of the game, but was reinstated as the white-ball captain in March 2024. 

After Babar’s resignation, Shan Masood was appointed as the Test captain and is still holding onto his position. Shaheen Afridi was made the T20I captain, but was removed after just one series loss against New Zealand. 

Now that Babar has officially vacated the captaincy spot, the PCB will be actively looking for his replacement. 

Although the Men in Green didn’t win any major tournament during Babar’s captaincy tenure, it’ll still be difficult to step in his shoes as he was one of the most loved Pakistan team captains. 

Reports suggest that the PCB is considering making Mohammad Rizwan the white-ball captain. It’s worth remembering that Rizwan had always been Babar’s biggest supporter.