Former Pakistan opener Salman Butt has called for Shan Masood to replace Babar Azam as captain of the Pakistan men's cricket team in all formats. This follows Pakistan's failure to advance to the Super 8s in the T20 World Cup 2024.
Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt has voiced his opinion on the future leadership of Pakistan’s men’s cricket team, stating that Shan Masood should take over in all three formats of the game, replacing Babar Azam. Notably, Butt’s statement follows Green Army’s disappointing performance in the T20 World Cup 2024, where they failed to enter the Super Eight fixture in the West Indies and USA.
The Men in Green lost their opening game to hosts and debutant USA in the thrilling super over when they failed to chase down the total. In addition to this, they made a great comeback in the second game against Rohit Sharma and his men, restricting the side to 119 runs. However, Babar Azam and his men failed to chase down the low total and fell short by 7 runs against eventual champions India, which puts them on the brink of elimination. It is worth mentioning that the Green Army defeated Ireland and Canada in their last two games, but these two wins were not enough to make it to the next round of the marquee event.
Salman Butt bypassed other prominent players with the likes of Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, wicketkeeper batter Mohammed Rizwan, and former T20I vice captain Shadab Khan and placed his confidence in the 34-year-old cricketer Shan Masood. The cricketer turned analyst shared his opinion on the YouTube channel and expressed concerns about the current leadership attitude and lack of effective execution despite his great skill set.
“There is some fuss because… 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,” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Shan Masood currently leads Pakistan’s Test cricket team, as well as captaining Yorkshire in the County Championship and Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League. Meanwhile, Babar Azam stepped down from captaincy in all formats after a horrendous show in the ODI World Cup 2023. Shaheen Afridi took charge of the T20I team but was sacked after a series loss to New Zealand. Following the same, newly appointed PCB charman Mohsin Naqvi reappointed Babar Azam as the new skipper, while Masood remains the Test skipper.
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