Former Pakistan captain slams Babar Azam's leadership qualities and suggests to leave captaincy

Pakistan suffered an embarrassing loss against India in their third match, at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. Though the Men in Green have won two matches. But Babar Azam’s captaincy skills and ability have come under scrutiny after they lost in the high-voltage match. Former Pakistani cricketers and experts have raised questions over the team’s performance against India. 

Former Pakistan Skipper Shoaib Malik has now raised questions over the Pakistan skipper’s captaincy skills. He believes the 29-year-old should leave the leadership of Pakistan and give more time to improve his batting abilities. The question comes in place after their humiliating loss as Pakistan has never defeated India in the ODI World Cup history. Though in previous times they have at least given a fight. But on October 14 they were humiliated at the Narendra Modi Stadium. 

The 41-year-old batter believes Babar does not have the skill to think something 'out of the box' and is way too traditional as a captain, which affects the team in bigger matches. Babar scored half-century against India but after he and Mohammad Rizwan went back to the pavilion the Men in Green crumbled from 155-2 to 191-10. They lost eight wickets under 36 runs. 

Babar, as a player, can do wonders for himself as well as the team: Shoaib Malik

Shoaib said, "Look, I will give you my honest opinion on this. I have already said this in previous interviews that Babar should leave captaincy, it is just my opinion but there's a lot of homework behind it. Babar, as a player, can do wonders for himself as well as the team. It is my personal opinion and that is not because we lost the game today (against India) or we lost by a big margin, no it (my opinion) is not built on that." 

"I think that Babar, as a leader, doesn't think out of the box. One shouldn't mix his leadership with his batting skills as they both are different. He has been a captain for a long time now, but he hasn't been able to improve himself. Shaheen Afridi should become captain in white ball cricket in case Babar Azam resigns. He has done an attacking captaincy for Lahore Qalandars."