The ongoing 2024 T20 World Cuphas been a tournament of horrors for Pakistan, and its captain Babar Azam.
Not only did they lose to minnows USA in their tournament opener before bottling a winnable match against arch-rivals India, they've now been knocked out of the group stage as well.
The 2022 edition's finalists have copped much criticism from their own country as well as pundits globally, not to mention the ire of the fans who had high hopes for their team.
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They did not really have the smoothest of preparations for the tournament, with plenty of chatter around their opening combination and Babar Azam's most suitable position. There was also drama with Shaheen Afridi, who was appointed T20I captain last November, replaced with months left for the T20 World Cup and Babar Azam taking over once again.
Now, after their ignominious exit, former England captain Michael Vaughan has taken aim at Babar but did say he wants to see consistency from Pakistan's selection committee.
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Michael Vaughan: I just don't see Babar Azam as a T20 captain
In a chat show on CricBuzz, Vaughan was asked if he felt the calls to relieve Babar of Pakistan's T20 captaincy were fair. The Englishman replied that he felt Babar was not even among the top 15 players in T20 cricket internationally. It must be noted that Babar's strike rate (129.46) in T20 cricket has been criticised widely.
However, he did state that Babar was more suited to the ODI and Test format.
I just don't see him as a T20 captain. I see him as a Test and ODI format captain. He excels in those formats as a player. In T20s, he's very good. He's a pure player but he's not up there with, I would say, the top15 batters in the world in T20 cricket. I think there are better players at the top of the order who could play fearless cricket and whack it 360 degrees.
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Should Babar Azam be removed as Pakistan's T20 captain? Michael Vaughan disagrees
While he did say that Babar was not an ideal T20 captain, Vaughan had some interesting thoughts on whether Pakistan should remove him as captain again, months after returning the captaincy to him.
Even if he's not perfectly suited to captaining in T20 cricket, I do think for this period, it's worth staying consistent (sticking with Babar). The last thing Pakistan need right now is a kamikaze approach, chopping and changing things. They shouldn't overreact. They are not really a very good team, even on paper.
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