PCB announce Babar as the new ODI captain
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|| CF Correspondent ||
The Pakistan Cricket Board [PCB] has appointed Babar Azam as the new 50 over format skipper after a long discussion.
Earlier, Babar Azam was only named as the T20I captain and the decision on ODI captaincy was halted as the team wasn’t scheduled to play any ODI recently. Sarfaraz Ahmed was the skipper who has been replaced by Babar. Earlier, Sarfaraz Ahmed has been axed from the team from all format following his poor batting performance.
Pakistan was scheduled to play the one-off ODI against Bangladesh in the first week of April which would have been the ODI captaincy debut for Babar Azam. But the third phase of the tour was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
While releasing the list of centrally contracted players for the 2020-21, PCB announced this decision. Babar has also got the extension of being the T20I captain and Azhar Ali has also been retained at the helm for the Tests.
Pakistan is scheduled to play nine Tests, six ODIs and 20 T20 Internationals in the 2020-21 season, according to the ICC’s Future Tour Programme [FTP]. And Babar Azam and Azhar Ali are expected to lead the team in this period.
The head coach Misbah-ul-Haq congratulated them and also expressed that the PCB has made the right decision by giving the captaincy on the right hands.
“I want to congratulate Azhar Ali and Babar Azam for getting captaincy extensions. This is absolutely the right decision as they also require certainty and clarity on their future roles. I am sure they will now start looking to the future and start planning so that they can build sides that can perform at the expected levels,” he said according to the PCB’s press release.
