PCB makes efforts to develop consensus on Babar’s captaincy

ISLAMABAD: Efforts are on to develop consensus before announcing Babar Azam as the white-ball captain till the Champions Trophy 2025 to be held in Pakistan.

Cricket selection Committee including Mohammad Yousaf, Wahab Riaz, Abdul Razzaq and Bilal Afzal rushed to Kakul (Abbottabad) to meet leading captaincy aspirants and some senior players to get their feedback on Babar taking over the team’s command again.

Things have changed a lot since Babar refused to pick one format to lead the team during Zaka Ashraf’s tenure as Chairman PCB Management Committee. Since then Shaheen Shah Afridi who also leads Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) has developed his clout of supporters. A good number of players who are favourites to make it to the T20 World Cup team feel that he should continue leading the team and that the result of just one series is no reason to remove him from captaincy.

Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan, and a few others have developed a liking for Shaheen’s captaincy. Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim have never got along well with Babar in the recent past. A few others with a lesser say in the team also developed good relations with Shaheen.

News emerging from Kakul also suggests that a few leading senior cricketers want a better understanding of the whole situation fearing that any misadventure could inculcate complications and hence could well damage the unity of the team.

It is for this very reason that the Chairman PCB, Mohsin Naqvi, has directed the selection committee to spend some time with the probable in Kakul and start a consultation process where consensus could be developed over Babar as the future white ball captain of the team. Efforts are being made to take some leading players, especially captaincy aspirants in confidence before officially announcing Babar as captain.

“There have been some concerns among players over the news emerging from the PCB headquarters that Babar’s name has been finalized for captaincy till the Champions Trophy 2025,” one of the senior members currently busy training in Kakul told The News.

Though he was reluctant to add anything more on the subject, chances of a rift and grouping cannot be ruled out considering the experience and nature of hasty decisions taken by previous regimes. The decision to send the selection committee to Kakul and to take senior players in confidence is more an effort to control things before getting out of hand.

There is a good chance that Naqvi may join the Committee members and become part of the discussion process. “The Selection Committee has the mandate to discuss cricketers’ issues and concerns if there are any. The chairman may join the process in between on Sunday if required,” a source confirmed to The News.

He said that once the Selection Committee gives the go-ahead, the official announcement on Babar will be made. “It would take another week to ten days before the announcement of the team for the series against New Zealand. By that time we will have our new captain and some news on the new coach. We have already published an advertisement for coaches hiring for Test as well as for white-ball cricket.”