Sports Desk

Shaheen Shah Afridi's one-series spell as Pakistan T20I captain is set to come to an end, with Babar Azam offered the white-ball captaincy once more. PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi met Babar earlier this week to make the offer.

Babar, for his part, has not yet accepted the offer. The decision to strip him of the armband in all three formats following Pakistan's poor 2023 ODI World Cup campaign rankled him, and he has asked the PCB to be appointed captain across all three formats if he is to consider a return. While no ODI captain was ever officially appointed when Babar reluctantly stepped down, Shan Masood is the current Test captain, having led the side in a three-match series in Australia.

The writing was on the wall for Afridi since Naqvi refused to back him at a press conference in Lahore on Sunday, saying at the time a final decision would be made after Pakistan's training camp with the military ended. But it appears there has been a rapid loss of faith in Afridi's leadership abilities when he led Pakistan in one series and his PSL franchise Lahore Qalandars. Pakistan lost the T20I series against New Zealand 4-1, and Qalandars won just one game out of ten and finished bottom of the PSL table.

However, Afridi will feel hard done by, given Naqvi's comments that Pakistan wanted a long-term captain they could back, rather than knee-jerk appointments after a handful of games, given that is effectively precisely what has happened to him. Part of the appeal of appointing Afridi, still only 23, as captain was he could learn on the job and continue in the role for an extended period of time, and he was considered the favourite to take on the ODI leadership as well.

And while Babar's demand to be anointed Test captain is not understood to be a deal-breaker, it does place significant pressure on Masood's position as red-ball skipper. He, too, has led the side for just one series, with Pakistan losing all three games in Australia. However, a more aggressive approach as captain was widely seen as a contributing factor to Pakistan running the hosts close in two of the three Tests despite injuries rendering the bowling attack weakened.

Source : ESPNcricinfo