There’s no threat to Babar Azam’s captaincy, PCB chief Najam Sethi clears air
Pakan Cricket Board Chief (PCB) Najam Sethi has cleared the air regarding Babar Azam’s captaincy after the 28-year-old was rested for three-match T20I series against Afghanan.
“There is no threat. Our established skipper Babar will remain the captain of our national squad until he himself decides whether he wants to leave captaincy of any one format or all three formats or he wants to remain the captain in all. It will totally be his call,” Sethi said in a press conference on Monday.
“I respect Babar a lot; he is our top star. I am very happy that he supported our decision to try youngsters against Afghanan”, he added.
🧐
Najam Sethi reveals the reason behind naming Shadab Khan as the captain of the Pakan team against Afghanan 👀#pakancricket #NajamSethi #shadabkhan pic.twitter.com/S6EBdkuTjr
— Cricket Pakan (@cricketpakcompk) March 13, 2023
Babar has been in red-hot form this season’s Pakan Super League (PSL). The Peshawar Zalmi skipper has amassed 416 runs in nine matches, including one century and three fifties.
Pakan captain Babar Azam, along with Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi have been rested, while Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Mohammad Hasnain and Khushdil Shah have been dropped. These nine players were part of the Pakan squad that reached the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
Pakan squad: Shadab Khan (captain), Abdullah Shafique, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shan Masood, Tayyab Tahir, Zaman Khan
