NEW DELHI: Former
Pakistan
captain
Shoaib Malik
claimed that he would have stepped down from the
captaincy
had he been in
Babar Azam
's position after Pakistan's disappointing
T20 World Cup
campaign.
The team failed to progress to the Super 8, securing wins only against Canada and Ireland.
T20 World Cup Schedule | Points Table | Stats
Recalling his own experience, Malik, who led Pakistan in the inaugural T20 World Cup, mentioned being asked to captain the team again a few years later.
He declined, preferring to focus on his performance as a player. Malik believes that the captaincy has affected Babar's batting performance.
"I think I would immediately resign from the captaincy and focus on my cricket," Malik stated on Ten Sports.
"This had happened with me when I was offered the captaincy again for a year around 2009-10, but I denied it because I just wanted to focus on my cricket. I am not just saying for the sake of it. His numbers also tell a story."
As captain, Babar's batting average in T20Is dropped down to 37.28 (in 77 innings) from 48.48 in 38 innings before that.
Malik pointed out that aside from Babar's performance with the bat, there has been no noticeable improvement in his leadership skills.
"If there was any improvement as a leader of the team then definitely he should have continued. But there hasn't been any. Captain is the one who gets the best out of players. He captained in three T20 World Cups, an ODI World Cup, and two Asia Cups and won nothing," Malik noted.
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