‘Babar has to learn a lot as a captain’ says Sikandar Bakht

• Sikandar Bakht believes that Babar is not natural leader.
• He mentioned not using Agha Salman and Iftikhar Ahmed.
• Bakht questioned his captaincy abilities.

Sikandar Bakht, a former Test cricketer, believes that current national team captain Babar Azam is not a natural leader.

Bakht stated in his most recent interview on a YouTube channel that Babar lacks the skills of a natural leader.

“Honestly speaking, Babar has to learn a lot as a captain. There are so many people who are born as leaders. Babar is not a born leader,” he said.

“When he was given the captaincy, I said in my interview that he wasn’t a good choice. I wanted him to prove me wrong by showing his captaincy but he didn’t,” the cricketer-turned-analyst said.

Bakht mentioned not using Agha Salman and Iftikhar Ahmed with the ball in the recent Test series as an example of Babar’s captaincy flaws.

“Let me give you a recent example. Agha Salman is an off-spinner, Babar only gave two-three overs to him in one Test, and in another match, he let him bowl complete overs. He also didn’t utilise Iftikhar,” he recalled.

Pakistan lost five Tests, won one, and drew three in 2022, all under Babar’s captaincy. They were defeated in their home Test series against Australia and England.

Furthermore, Bakht questioned Babar’s captaincy abilities when making situational decisions.

“So many times I think Babar does scripted captaincy. He pens down the plan and comes with it in the ground. It doesn’t work at all. Cricket is a game of situations. Being a captain, you have to be smart enough to react in different situations, if you don’t, then you are not a good captain,” he shared his thoughts.

“Let me tell you, Mushtaq Ahmed was our captain. He used to bring Wasim Raja, one of the great all-rounders of his time, to provide a breakthrough. So many times Mushtaq made use of Wasim and the latter provided a breakthrough to the team before Lunch,” he mentioned.

“Babar is a 50 percent captain and he needs to learn in rest of the 50 percent,” he concluded.

Pakistan has played 60 international matches under Babar from 2019 to 2022. They won 40 games while losing 21. Babar led Pakistan to the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, the final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, and the Asia Cup 2022.

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