According to a PCB source, Babar Azam faced significant challenges during his second stint as captain of Pakistan’s cricket team. The T20 World Cup 2024 proved to be a forgettable campaign for Pakistan under his leadership, culminating in an early exit after defeats against the USA and traditional rivals India. The source attributed Pakistan’s disappointing performance to internal divisions within the squad and the inability of senior players to deliver their best performances when it mattered most.
Upon his return to captaincy, Babar Azam struggled to unite the team, as it was reportedly fragmented into three distinct groups. One faction rallied behind Babar Azam himself, another supported Shaheen Afridi, and a third backed Mohammad Rizwan. According to the PCB insider, this internal fragmentation posed a significant hurdle for Babar Azam in fostering a cohesive team environment necessary for success in international tournaments.
“There are three groups in the team: one led by Babar Azam, the second by Shaheen Shaheen Afridi and the third one by Muhammad Rizwan. Add to this mix the return of seniors like Muhammad Aamir and Imad Wasim and the recipe was ready for a World Cup disaster,” the source was quoted as saying by The Week.
Rizwan said,”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. 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,” he added.
Chairman Mohsin Naqvi Aware of Team Issues, Held Meetings to Rally Players for World Cup Success Moreover, a senior official from the PCB also mentioned that Chairman Mohsin Naqvi was fully informed about the issues within the team. The national selector and the senior team manager conveyed this information to him.
The official said,“Naqvi held two meetings with all the players in private and gave them pep talks asking them to put their issues aside and focus on winning the World Cup and he would remove all misgivings in the team later on but apparently things didn’t work out.”
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