“As Far As Captaincy Is Concerned…”: Babar Azam Answers The Big Question

There arguably isn’t a person in cricket who is more under pressure than Pakistan captain Babar Azam. Following a dismal campaign in the Cricket World Cup 2023 — losing three of the first five matches — Pakistan see their semi-final hopes hanging by a thread. The situation is such that Babar’s captaincy skills have also come in the line of fire, with fans, experts, and many former cricketers questioning if he even has what it takes to succeed as a skipper.

There are those who feel that the captaincy responsibility is the reason behind Babar’s poor show with the bat in the World Cup. When he was asked about the same in the post-match press conference, the Pakistan skipper played down the talks.

Reporter: Your emotions are telling us that you are sad just like the whole nation is sad. What message would you give to the crores [millions] of people in Pakistan who are following this team? The question from this team is incomplete, do they have any expectations? And the additional burden of the captaincy, is it affecting your individual performance? What do you think about the team’s incomplete performance and the captain’s extra weight?

Babar Azam Complete Press Conference after shameful loss to Afghanistan : –#PAKvAFG pic.twitter.com/t6LeHfiXi0

— Sohaib (@Sohaib_Iqbal_) October 23, 2023

Babar Azam:You never know. It’s cricket. Anything can happen. We will try to play our best cricket till the end. There are a lot of matches left, we will try to win all the matches. We will try to overcome our mistakes.

As far as captaincy is concerned, I don’t have much pressure on me or on my batting. I try to give my best in batting. I am 100% and I have been doing that. During fielding, I think about captaincy and during batting I just think about the batting. How I should run and how I should run for the team.