Islamabad23 minutes ago
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Former chief selector of the Pakistan cricket team Mohammad Wasim has described Babar Azam as stubborn. Not only this, Wasim claimed that 4 coaches had identified a group of players in the team as a harmful influence. He described them as cancer and warned that Pakistan would struggle to win with them in the team.
Wasim also talked about his experience and difficulties working with Babar as the chief selector. The 46-year-old former cricketer said, ‘Babar was very stubborn and often opposed the changes in the team suggested by the selection committee.’ Currently, Babar Azam is part of the Pakistani team in the second Test against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi, although his performance has been poor. He has been able to score only 64 runs in four innings of 2 matches.
Babar Azam’s performance against Bangladesh was not special. He could score only 64 runs in 4 innings.
Key points from Wasim…
- It was difficult to convince Babar about the benefits of the changes. He was very stubborn and I crossed my limits to make him agree with a few calls. He was not ready to accept the changes.
- The atmosphere in the dressing room was bad because of some players. As the chief selector, I tried to remove them, but the team management brought them back.
- I won’t take names, but 4 coaches told me that a group of players are cancer for the team. If they are part of the team, Pakistan cannot win.
Babar’s captaincy under question
After being out of T20 World Cup-2024, questions are being raised on Babar Azam’s captaincy. PCB made Babar Azam the captain of all formats in 2020. Under Babar’s captaincy, the team reached the semi-finals of T20 World Cup 2021 and the final of 2022. But then he resigned from the captaincy after the team’s poor performance in the ODI World Cup 2023.
Although the board handed over the captaincy of white-ball cricket back to Babar Azam ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024, the team’s performance was disappointing. Pakistan was eliminated after the group stage round after losing matches against India and USA.
Pakistan team was eliminated from the league round in T20 World Cup 2024.
Wasim was removed by PCB in December 2022
Wasim was removed from the post of chief selector by the Pakistan Cricket Board in December 2022. He became the chief selector in December 2020. Wasim is currently serving as the head coach of the Pakistan women’s team.
Wasim is currently the coach of the Pakistan women’s cricket team.