The Pakistan cricket team led by captain Babar Azam endured one of the worst campaigns in the T20 World Cup 2024 co-hosted by the United States of America (USA) and West Indies, after they failed to finish top-two in the group stages.
According to a PTI report, their poor performance and an early exit in the ongoing World Cup might have been due to internal divisions and underperformance of several senior players in the team, which ended up in disaster for the team's morale as Babar Azam failed to bring the players together.
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Following Pakistan's back-to-back defeats against co-hosts and dark horses USA and arch-rivals India, to start the T20 World Cup, their fate in the tournament was almost sealed. As a result, several former cricketers have expressed their fury and anger at the current team in the Pakistani media.
Why Pakistan imploded during the T20 World Cup 2024?
The TOI report highlighted that Pakistan's poor performance and exit from the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 is being attributed to internal groupings and underperformance of several senior players.
The divisions in the team and failure of captain Babar Azam to unify the team during the world tournament might not only lead to significant changes in the cricket team but also for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Reportedly, both Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan were dissatisfied about not being considered for the captaincy during the T20 World Cup 2024. Both players supposedly felt unsupported by the current skipper, Babar Azam.
A source close to the Pakistan team told Press Trust of India [PTI] that:
"There are three groups in the team, one led by Babar Azam, the second one by Shaheen Shah Afridi and the third one by Muhammad Rizwan. Add to this mix the return of seniors like Mohammad Aamir and Imad Wasim, and the recipe was ready for a World Cup disaster."
Further, the report alleged that Babar brought his favourites back into the team despite the fact that they had not played a part in any games for the national team in the past few years.
"The return of Imad and Amir added to the confusion as it was difficult for Babar to get any worthwhile performances from both of them as they had not played top level domestic or international cricket for a long while now except in franchise-based leagues."
The same allegation was put forward by former Pakistan opener, Ahmed Shehzad in a rant on a TV news channel a couple of day ago.
More: 'Fake king' - Former Pakistan batter, Ahmed Shehzad rips into Babar Azam
"There were even instances where some players were not talking to each other and a few of them even tried to appease all the group leaders in the team," the source added.
Did Babar Azam fail as Pakistan captain and what is his future in the team?
Several sources in the PCB told the PTI that PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi is not expected to make an immediate call regarding Babar Azam's captaincy as the Pakistan team will play its next white-ball series only in November.
The people involved in the current mess following the aftermath of the T20 World Cup 2024 and doubts regarding Babar's future as captain of the team, will be temporarily relieved as the team will now focus on the Test series against Bangladesh and England next.
"The one good thing for Naqvi is that Pakistan now has two test series lined up at home against Bangladesh and England and with Shan Masood already the test captain and a new head coach in Jason Gillispie and he doesn't have to worry about immediate changes," a source told PTI.
One of the senior PCB officials told sources at the PTI that not everyone in the management thinks that Babar is to be blamed for the failure at the World Cup. The current Pakistan captain will continue to gather support from a lot of people in Pakistan as he is considered one of, if not the best batter for the country among the current generation of players.
"I am not defending Babar but what is a captain supposed to do when your premier bowler can't even defend 15 in the final over against a weak USA side and concedes a boundary and six on full tosses. Or when an all-rounder brought out of retirement to help win the World Cup sits out with fitness issues."
"You will see major changes in the team and at management level in the board now," the source added.
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