Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has ignored star pacer and former T20I captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, along with wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan and former T20I vice captain Shadab Khan, and instead wants a 34-year-old star batter to become the new captain of the Pakistan men’s cricket team in place of Babar Azam. Babar is all set to lose his captaincy after Pakistan failed to qualify for the Super 8s of the T20 World Cup 2024 last month.
Babar had stepped down from Pakistan’s captaincy in all three formats of the game last year after Men in Green failed to secure a place in the ODI World Cup 2023 semifinals, but after a change in Pakistan Cricket Board’s leadership in 2024, he was reappointed as T20I captain in place of Shaheen, who led the side in five T20Is against New Zealand in January.
But the team’s poor showing in the T20 World Cup 2024 has now again put pressure on Babar, and he is likely to quit in the coming days. While many experts see Rizwan and Shaheen as leading contenders to replace Babar, former captain Butt wants Shan Masood to lead the side in all three formats. The left-handed batter was appointed as the Test captain in November 2023.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, the former opening batter said that the current leadership has a lot of attitude, and Pakistan cricket needs a player like Shan in this situation.
“There is some fuss because of which despite having skill, players haven’t been able to execute. There is someone who doesn’t have any strategy for planning but still has a lot of attitude. To silence that attitude, I would definitely make Shan Masood the captain,” Butt said.
“I would do that for some time at least. Something like that needs to be done for some time. Pakistan has constantly backed certain players who have their own inner circles. So, you need someone who stands higher than all these groups and friendships,” he added.
Babar has constantly faced criticism for picking his friends in the Pakistani team and being part of groupism.
Comments
0 comment