Told Babar Azam his performance as captain is not good: Former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf

Former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf recalled he told former skipper Babar Azam that his performance as a leader is not good enough. Azam has come under the scrutiny for his mundane performance in the recent past.

Azam returned with scores 0 and 22 in the first Test match against Bangladesh and failed to deliver the goods for the team. The right-hander had the rub of the green as he was dropped for naught by Litton Das in the second essay but he could not make the most of his second life. Eventually, Pakistan was stunned by 10 wickets in the opening Test.

The flamboyant batter has been struggling to find his form in the recent past and as a result, he has dropped to ninth spot in the ICC rankings for Test batters.

Furthermore, Azam could not turn the tables in the second Test match as he could only manage scores of 31 and 11 against the Tigers. Pakistan lost the second Test by six wickets and thus the series by 2-0.

Meanwhile, when Zaka Ashraf was the PCB chairman, Pakistan failed to qualify for the semifinals of the ODI World Cup. Azam scored 320 runs in nine matches at an average of 40 and a strike rate of 82.90 in the ODI showpiece.

Ashraf squashed all reports of a rift between Babar Azam and fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Ashraf said as quoted by PTI, “There were no differences between Babar Azam or Shaheen even after I decided to have the latter as the T20 captain. No, the unity didn’t end (after removing Babar as captain). In fact, the unity improved. When we told him to play as a player, which is his talent, but as a captain, his performance is not good, he agreed.”

The former PCB chair feels the decision to back Shan Masood and Shaheen Shah Afridi as captains was a good one.

“He (Shan Masood) was a very good captain. He is still a very good player. He is still a captain in England’s counties. And, I made Shaheen Shah the captain of the T20I team. That was also a very good decision.”

Pakistan was stunned by Bangladesh in the two-match Test series despite playing at home and thus Masood’s leadership has come under the scanner.