Pakistan’s Babar Azam opted to step down from the leadership role across all formats after a shipwreck of a World Cup campaign in India. Champions in the 1992 edition of the World Cup, Babar’s Pakistan had a flop show in India as the Green Army failed to enter the business end of the competition. With Babar stepping down as Pakistan’s captain after the World Cup 2023, legendary cricketer Wasim Akram has offered an interesting piece of advice for the under-fire batter ahead of the Australia series.
For the second time running, Pakistan finished outside of the last four at the 50-over World Cup. With Babar at the helm, Pakistan picked up 9 points from 9 games. Babar and Co. recorded four wins and the former champions were defeated on five occasions at the India World Cup. Averaging 40.00 in 9 games at the World Cup, former Pakistan skipper Babar scored 320 runs. He also notched up four half-centuries for Pakistan in the ICC event.
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What Wasim Akram advised Babar Azam
Babar has returned to the Pakistan side as a pure batter after the ODI World Cup. The ace cricketer will not only be the linchpin of Pakistan’s batting across all formats but the star batter is also set to lead the charge of Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) next season. Speaking to Sportskeeda after the World Cup 2023, fast-bowling icon Akram advised Babar to avoid leading the PSL side in the T20 tournament.
‘Take your money, play your game, and go home’
“I had a given an idea to Babar Azam a couple of years ago that don’t do captaincy in league cricket. [You’re a] Big player, take your money, play your game, get runs, go home, and then to the next event. Pakistan’s captaincy is alright, but the league brings extra stress without any reason,” said Akram, who previously worked with Babar at Karachi Kings.
Earlier, Karachi Kings had traded Babar to Peshawar Zalmi and the franchise acquired the services of superstars Haider Ali and Shoaib Malik in return. Peshawar Zalmi finished fourth in the 2022-2023 season of the PSL. Lahore Qalandars defeated Babar and Co. in the Eliminator 2 of the Pakistani tournament at Lahore. Babar scored 522 runs for Zalmi last season.
