Date 16 June. Pakistan defeated a falling Ireland. The team was already out of the World Cup. This match was just like a battle of prestige. In this match, Pakistan had to prove that it had a bad match against America, otherwise it would have definitely been in the Super-8. But instead of proving this, it seemed that the history of 2007 was going to be repeated. Just like the 2007 World Cup, Ireland is going to defeat Pakistan in the 2024 World Cup as well. Well, Shaheen Shah Afridi did not let this situation arise by hitting two sixes. After this victory, Babar Azam looked aggressive in the press conference.

What did Babar say?

First of all let us tell you what he said, Babar said- "I will talk about whatever happened here after returning. If I have to leave the captaincy, I will take a decision in front of everyone. I am not going to take any decision secretly. PCB had handed over the captaincy to me again. Now they have to decide. We are losing as a team. This is not happening because of any one player. It is not right to talk only about captaincy. I cannot go and play in place of every player. There are 11 players in the team, every player has his own role. I think we could not do well as a team."

Captain Babar Azam talked about playing alone instead of 11 players but perhaps he forgot that the statistics do not support his statement. Babar scored 122 runs in 4 matches of the World Cup. His strike rate was 101.66. There is no need to say much.

Babar Azam's stats as captain?

Babar Azam had to leave the captaincy after the 2023 World Cup. By the way, in such cases, everyone knows the story that cases of leaving the captaincy are very rare. In fact, with the talk of removing from the captaincy, the board makes this 'offer' that if the player is ready, he will also say that the captaincy was left and not removed. After Babar Azam's removal, Shan Masood was given the command of the Test team and Shaheen Shah Afridi was given the command of the T20 format. Pakistan played a series against New Zealand under the captaincy of Shaheen Shah Afridi. Pakistan had to face a bad defeat in that series too. After this, as soon as the T20 World Cup came, the captaincy came back to Babar Azam. Many questions arise on this decision. But before those questions, let us tell you the statistics of Babar Azam as a captain.

Pakistan has played 20 Test matches under Babar's captaincy. Out of these, it has won 10. 6 have lost and 4 matches were drawn. The win and loss percentage is 50. There are 26 wins and 15 losses in 43 ODIs. 1 match was tied and 1 was inconclusive. The win-loss percentage is 63.09. In the T20 format, there are 48 wins and 29 losses in 85 matches. 1 match was tied and 7 matches did not result. Here the win-loss percentage is 62.17. Talking about Babar Azam's captaincy in World Cup matches, he has got 4 wins and 5 losses in 9 ODIs. Whereas in 17 T20 matches, there are 11 wins, 5 losses and 1 match was tied. Here the win-loss percentage is 67.64. That is, Babar's win percentage is more than 50 in almost all formats. The only bitter truth in this is that he has had to face defeat in big and important matches.

Now back to the questions

Now let's talk about the questions that arise when Babar Azam is made the captain again. The question is very simple, if Babar Azam was responsible for Pakistan's defeat in the 2023 World Cup, then why was he again given the chance in 2024? On the contrary, if Babar Azam had left the captaincy, then what happened in 6-7 months that he again agreed to take up this difficult responsibility? The real story is that Pakistan cricket has been a victim of tremendous factionalism for some time now. There is a Lahore-Karachi faction. There is this and that faction. There is a faction of former players. There is a faction of Pakistan Cricket Board officials. Gary Kirsten understood this in a few days. He also said clearly that everything is not going well in the team here.

If everything was going well, the Pakistan team would not have been a victim of upsets in almost every major tournament in the recent past. Sometimes Pakistan is defeated by the Zimbabwe team. Sometimes it is defeated by the US team playing an ICC tournament for the first time. The remaining task is completed by the officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board who give statements in the middle of the tournament that after a certain defeat it seemed that a minor surgery would have to be done, after a certain defeat it seems that a major surgery would have to be done. The players have a fear in their minds even before they step into the field.

The result is in front of everyone. Meanwhile, another big development is that there is almost no possibility of Babar Azam being given the captaincy for the Test series against Bangladesh. All that can be said is - Wow Pakistan, Wow Babar Azam and Wow Pakistan Cricket Board.