ICC World Cup 2023: Babar Azam likely to lose white-ball captaincy, Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn in firing line too - Report

Add as a preferred source on Google

Babar Azam is likely to lose white-ball captaincy after Pakistan's failure to make the semifinal of the ICC World Cup 2023 in India. The side lost five out of their nine matches during the tournament, including their latest encounter against England in Kolkata on Saturday (November 12).

Cricket Pakistan claimed that talks on this issue started within the Pakistan Cricket Board even before the game against England. It seems unlikely that Babar Azam will stay as the captain of white-ball cricket, which includes the leadership of the T20 team as well.

However, some have suggested to Zaka Ashraf, the Chairman of the Management Committee, that Babar should captain the team for the Test series against Australia. In the upcoming days, a ruling on this topic is anticipated. Unverified rumours also say that Babar Azam would think about giving up his captaincy.

At the same time, PCB is thinking about replacing its reliance on international coaches with local ones. In this context, connections have been made with former cricket players. Conversely, information regarding the Pakistani team's poor performance in India has come to light.

According to sources, Babar Azam and former chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq ignored the opinions of others in favour of their favourite players. Shadab Khan was supposed to be kept out, according to the Cricket Committee under Misbah-ul-Haq, but Babar Azam was adamant on keeping him as vice-captain. To escape criticism from Mohammad Hafeez and Misbah-ul-Haq, Inzamam stayed away from a meeting to evaluate the team's performance in the Asia Cup.

Additional information reveals that, after arriving in India, Inzamam also meddled in the playing XI selection process, exerting pressure to include his nephew Imam-ul-Haq, which resulted in the benching of Fakhar Zaman. Additionally, Babar Azam is accused of repeatedly ignoring the board officers' opinions.

Prior to travelling to India, players were mostly concerned with securing a larger salary in central contracts and a portion of the ICC earnings. A board member who wished to remain unnamed said that he thought players may blackmail the board.

Additional sources disclose that three to four players from the playing XI harboured discontent with Captain Babar Azam. They believed that during central contract negotiations, Babar favoured increasing his own remuneration and of a select few, negatively impacting the team's overall environment.