Who will decide future of Babar Azam's captaincy?

Najam Sethi, Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) Management Committee chairman, said Saturday that the future of Babar Azam's captaincy depends on the decision made by the team's selection committee and Mickey Arthur, who will become the national team director.

In his latest interview, the PCB head deemed Babar a wonderful player but said his future as a skipper is in the hands of the team's management.

"For now, we have retained Babar as a captain because he is our main player. His captaincy is often discussed in media, we have nothing to do with it," Sethi said.

Sethi also spoke about listening to some thoughts on media. "Some said there should be two different captains and some said different captains in each format. The selection committee also discussed this thing but it is premature to talk about this."

He mentioned consulting Arthur on the matter who suggested letting Babar continue.

"For the New Zealand series, he is our captain and we should back him. Later on, Mickey and the selection committee will decide on captaincy," Sethi explained.

It must be noted here that the PCB head has the final authority to bring a change in captaincy. Recently, Sethi tweeted that he met Babar and gave him confidence for the home New Zealand tour where he resumed his regular captaincy role after resting during the Afghanistan T20I series that concluded in late March.

The two-time PCB chairman also emphasised taking Babar in the loop before making any decision. "He is our star player. We need to talk to him first and let him make his decision in case of any change," he shared.

"Obviously, his performance matters here. If he wins as captain, nobody can remove him. He is our performer and at this moment, we just need to support him," he stated.

To a query about player power in the team, Sethi said he has no idea about it. "After I took charge, I haven't seen any player power sort of thing here. I don't know about the previous set-up," he said.

"Players are united, they play like a group which is a very good sign," he concluded.

After the conclusion of the Afghanistan T20I series, in which Pakistan lost by 2-1, stand-in skipper Shadab Khan gave comments about the importance of senior players in the team and it sparked controversy on social media.