"He should stay away from leadership"- Shoaib Malik opens up on Babar Azam's struggles

Veteran Pakistan batter Shoaib Malik believes Babar Azam should not continue as captain and focus on contributing as a batter. Babar has been under scrutiny from fans and former cricketers after Pakistan failed to make it to the Super Eight stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup under his leadership.

However, Malik expressed his support for the Pakistan white-ball skipper, stressing that it was just a phase and that Babar would certainly have better days ahead if he focused on contributing as a batter.

Here's what Shoaib Malik had to say about Babar Azam in an interview with Cricket Pakistan:

"Ups and downs are a part of life, especially when you are a cricketer from the subcontinent. He needs to stay strong during this time. As for his captaincy, my firm stance is that he should play only as a player. That’s my opinion. When he plays as a player, he can do wonders for the team. But in my opinion, he should stay away from leadership."

Having played alongside Babar and under his captaincy, Malik reckons the Pakistan white-ball captain has a positive attitude towards challenges and feels that he will come good in due course of time as a player.

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Shoaib Malik on who should be Pakistan's white-ball captain

Shoaib Malik claimed that explosive batter Fakhar Zaman needed to be allowed to captain Pakistan in the white-ball formats. With modern-day cricket moving towards a fearless brand of playing, Malik reckoned Zaman would be the perfect captaincy fit. On this, he stated:

"According to today’s fearless cricket, Fakhar Zaman should be considered for white ball captaincy because he has the sense and leadership capacity for it."

Babar Azam was the highest run-scorer for Pakistan at the T20 World Cup with 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike rate of 101.66.

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