Babar Azam lost his interest in captaining Pakistan’s white ball teams after a critical report submitted by head coach Gary Kirsten to the Pakistan Cricket Board, according to sources close to the team.
Babar on Wednesday resigned as Pakistan’s white-ball cricket captain for a second time in 11 months, citing a need to lessen his workload and focus on improving his game.
He had stepped down as captain of all three formats last year after Pakistan failed to make the knockout stage of the 50-overs World Cup, before returning as white-ball skipper in March ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup, where Pakistan did not make it to the Super Eight stage.
Babar was disappointed that he was being blamed for Pakistan’s lackluster showing in the T20 World Cup in July in which they were knocked out in the league stage, after suffering a shock loss to hosts USA.
“Babar was not happy with the observations and recommendations of Kirsten and even assistant coach, Azhar Mahmood and felt he was solely being blamed for the disappointing performances,” a source was quoted as saying.
“He had indicated to the cricket board after some parts of Kirsten’s report became public that he was not interested in remaining captain.”
A PCB insider said Babar had complained to some board officials, who had worked a lot with him that it was unfortunate the PCB didn’t take his past performances and results into their consideration nor showed the required confidence and trust in him.
Another insider said that the final nail in the coffin was when the PCB didn’t announce him as captain of the ODI squad while confirming him to lead Pakistan in the T20 World Cup.
Kirsten, in his report to PCB, discussed the dressing room environment and also the behaviour and non-cooperation of some players in England and the T20 Cup World Cup.
He also conveyed his opinion on whether Babar was equipped to handle the pressures of captaincy and his more significant role for the team as a specialist batter after the mental stress and criticism he had gone through since last year.
According to one source, the PCB is in no hurry to announce, who will replace Babar as white-ball captain as internally they have told Kirsten, selector Asad Shafiq and some members of the selection committee to take a decision and make a recommendation after much thought and debate.
“Chairman, Mohsin Naqvi has made it clear he wants minutes of all official discussions by the selection committee that includes both foreign head coaches to be recorded so that a clear reason is on record for making the appointment,” he added.
Pakistan won just six of the 13 T20 matches they played under Babar in his second stint, and the 2009 champions were involved in the T20 World Cup’s biggest upset when they were beaten by hosts United States.
He did not take charge of any One-day international matches.
