Babar Azam accepted the offer to take over the role of captaining the Pakistan national cricket team in Tests for the second time in his career on only one condition: leadership in all three formats. The Pakistan selectors were reportedly agreeable to Babar’s demand as they were considering changes in ODIs and T20Is as well.
A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) source told Telecom Asia Sport how the board convinced Babar Azam to take over the reins of Test captaincy again. Babar was made the captain for the longest format of the game, replacing Shan Masood, who did a good job as a batsman, but as a captain, it was nothing but a failure.
PCB retaliated against Babar Azam
The PCB had sacked Babar from Test captaincy a few years ago due to his poor batting form and inconsistency. Shan Masood was promising and is still one of the best in this format for the country. After being appointed as the team leader in December 2023, Pakistan suffered 12 defeats in 16 matches under the leadership of Masood.
Before announcing the squad for the West Indies series, two national cricket selectors met Babar Azam to present their proposal. Babar agreed to retain the captaincy role but with the demand of captaincy in the remaining two formats as well. If reports are to be believed, the board selectors agreed to Babar’s terms, but they also created some hurdles for the experienced candidate.
Babar Azam wants to become captain for Pakistan in all three formats
If under his leadership the team can bring satisfactory results in the Test matches against West Indies and England, then only the PCB can consider this batsman as the captain of all formats.
“The two selectors met Babar before the Test captaincy was announced on July 5 as they had no other option but Babar for the red-ball captaincy and Babar accepted the role on the condition of getting captaincy in the other two formats as well,” a source told Telecom Asia on Monday.
“Babar always wanted to be the sole captain of Pakistan in all three formats and when he put forward this condition, the selectors told him that if the team performs well in the West Indies and England in five Test matches, he will get the captaincy in all formats,” the source said.
Pakistan’s T20I captaincy remains a puzzle to be solved
T20I captaincy brought no joy to Shaheen Afridi and Salman Ali Aga as both were dismissed from the role. Agha resigned from the T20I captaincy after a disappointing 2026 T20 World Cup and Afridi was dethroned after just one series.
At present, Shaheen Afridi remains the captain for ODI matches. Before removing Shan Masood from the Test team leadership role, the Pakistan Cricket Board took about a few months to appoint Babar Azam, a move which was described as a deliberate move by the country’s cricket board.
In recent times, Babar guided Peshawar Zalmi to victory in the Pakistan Super League 2026 (PSL 2026) season as captain and top-order batsman.