Babar Azam’s resignation won’t  solve the problem

Pakistani captain Babar Azam has resigned from all formats of cricket as a captain. He decided this after his team failed to qualify for the semi-finals at the ODI World Cup.

New captain for upcoming test series

PCB has appointed Shan Masood as the Captain of the test team for the coming test series in Australia and Shaheen Afridi as the T20 captain. However, the ODI captain has not been announced yet.

Problems in the team performance

This World Cup proved a disaster for the Pakistani team. Although it is not important that the Pakistani team was unable to wear the crown. Ten teams were competing for the event and only one team had to reach the top slot to win the race.

However, the real problem was the agonizing performance of the Pakistani team during the group matches. The way it was defeated by Afghanistan was most humiliating. The performance of the team was dismal.

In the 2011 World Cup Pakistan qualified for the semis but in 2015 and 2019 performance of the Pakistani team was equally poor.

At that time the blame was put on the playing conditions of those countries not suitable for our players. This time we can not blame it for the playing conditions are the same both in India and Pakistan.

The performance of the PCB chairman

Along with this reason, how can we justify the performance of the PCB chairman, selection committee, Babar, Micky Arther, and his coaching staff?

The PCB has removed the coaching staff including the team director Micky Arther. Former captain Muhammed Hafeez has been appointed as the new director.

These changes on the administrative level can not resolve the crisis of teams’ performance. There have been drastic changes in domestic cricket since 2019.

Departmental teams had been abolished and the players became uncertain of their future. It is understood that every political change and turmoil topples the positions on the cricket board.  Rameez Raja, Najam Sethi, and Zaka Ashraf acted as PCB chairman for the last couple of years.

Uncertainty in the policies on the board level has contributed a lot to the poor performance of the players. Ad hoc arrangements in board positions since December have increased the problems instead of solving them.

The board’s failure to solve the uncalled-for deadlock over the central contract of players also demoralized the players.

Tense relations

The ongoing reports of the tense relations between Captain Babar Azam and Zaka Ashraf added salt to the injury. Additionally, the bad blood and grouping of players hampered their performance and they did not show a joint front.

On the field, the performance of the players was equally bad. Our batters disappointed us with their poor strokes and their inability to stay long on the crease.

Our bowlers were equally disappointing and we’re unable to show better line and length. They were beaten mercilessly by the opposing batters. Our bad fielding has become legendary.

To put all the responsibility on Babar as a captain as done by some retired players is unjustified. His captaincy was under a great spotlight throughout the tournament.

No doubt he must ponder over his shortcomings for the sake of his development as a cricketer and a captain.

If we want to improve the dismal performance of the Pakistani team and to improve our position on the cricket field we must make improvements in all fields on the playground to the administrative level. We should bring consistency to policymaking.

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