Babar Azam's return to T20 captaincy is closed

The way Babar Azam played in PSL 11 was truly remarkable. He equaled Fakhar Zaman's record by scoring 588 runs and also led Peshawar Zalmi to the title. After this success, it was natural that talk started that perhaps the PCB was considering giving him the T20 captaincy again. But when this question was asked to a senior figure in the board, the answer was a clear and straightforward "no".

According to sources, the entire focus is on Test cricket and the ICC Championship right now, the decision on the T20 captaincy will be taken when the time comes. It was also said that T20 has now become a game for the youth and in the future, priority will be given to giving a chance to new faces. White Ball Coach Mike Hesson was not in favor of playing Babar in T20 even before, although he still got a place in the World Cup squad.

The statistics also do not speak much in Babar's favor. His strike rate in T20 Internationals is 128, which is nothing special for this format, and he could only score 91 runs in 6 matches in World Cup 2024. He must have scored runs at a strike rate of 146 in PSL, but giving him the captaincy on this basis alone is not an easy decision.

If we look at the captaincy figures, under Babar's leadership, Pakistan won 48 out of 85 matches, while under the current captain Salman Ali Agha, Pakistan won 31 out of 50 matches. Salman's batting has certainly been questioned, but there is no sign of a change yet. Pakistan's next T20 series will be against Sri Lanka in October.