It is a tradition that just like every 50-over World Cup since 2003, the Pakistan Cricket Board tends to change Pakistan’s next captain or drop them. It happened with Waqar Younis (who later had to retire), Shahid Afridi and Sarfaraz Ahmed. Of course, an exception is made if the player has retired like Inzamam ul-Haq or Misbah-ul Haq.
A similar case will happen with Babar Azam, which is highly given the poor performance shown by the national team in the 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup. This became absolutely certain when the current PCB Chairman, Zaka Ashraf, stated that Babar’s position would depend on the team’s performance in the ongoing tournament.
And, let’s be honest with ourselves, it is very difficult for the team to qualify despite having a slim chance. So for that, every fan and journalist has begun their predictions for the next skipper for the country’s biggest sport. So we decided to predict our own. Here are the top cricketers to replace the all-formats captain Babar Azam after the World Cup.
Pakistan’s Next Captain: Expectations
Remember, Mohammad Rizwan and Shadab Khan are the vice-captains in Tests and limited overs formats respectively.
The first thing that comes to mind is that Rizwan will likely replace Babar in Test cricket. But despite Azam’s poor home record, he has eight overseas wins which is the second-best by any PAK skipper in red-ball cricket.
| Captains | Matches | Wins | Lost | NR/Draw/Tie |
| Misbah ul-Haq | 32 | 10 | 15 | 4 |
| Babar Azam | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| Saleem Malik | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Wasim Akram | 16 | 6 | 8 | 2 |
| Imran Khan | 28 | 5 | 6 | 15 |
In addition, he has a total of 10 wins from 20 matches he led. And with the Australia tour upcoming (starting from 14 December), the PCB may just keep Babar for that tour only and then decide afterwards.
Shadab Khan’s case will be questionable. While he has done well with the bat, his bowling has been below-par. To him leading the national team in white-ball cricket will raise some questions too.
Also Read: From Star to Struggler: Shadab Khan’s Bowling Conundrum
While he has had some good success with Islamabad United in the PSL, he has yet to convert those wins on the national side. Shadab has led two series but lost both of them, including the Afghanistan series by 2-1 earlier this year.
But these two men are strong choices to replace Babar Azam and it is very likely that it will happen once the end of the mega-event.
Pakistan’s Next Captain: Rumors
This past week has seen some interesting rumours spreading across the country and social media has exploded with them. Here are players who could make a surprise entry to the cricket team as the new leader.
Sarfaraz Ahmed
The number one rumour that has been speculating is the winning captain of the 2017 Champions Trophy Sarfaraz Ahmed will likely step into the red-ball side and become their new captain. He recently led Karachi Whites to victory in the final of the 2023-24 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.
He already led Pakistan to 13 matches but won only four of them. His excellent white-ball leadership could not be replicated in the traditional game of cricket and was hence called for removal shortly after the 2019 Test series against South Africa, where they lost 3-0.
Shan Masood
Another strong rumour regarding the captaincy. Shan Masood was one of the top performers in the QeAT 2023 and he was seen with the current chief selector Inzamam ul-Haq during the final talk with him.
Many already speculated that it is possible for Shan to be the new white-ball if not Test and it could likely be he and Sarfaraz take different leadership duties.
Shaheen Afridi
Being the only PSL skipper to win two PSL titles (unless you want to count injured Misbah for PSL 3), there is a case that fast-bowling spearhead Shaheen could make an entry as the new leader. Most likely it can be white-ball.
Imad Wasim
Another ODIs and T20Is candidate for the big role, Imad Wasim has not represented Pakistan in any form of cricket since April. He already led the national side in two ODIs and lost both in the series against Australia. It could be possible for him to take over the white-ball duties.
Who do you think will become the next captain of Pakistan cricket?
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