Babar Azam resigned as Pakistan‘s white-ball captain earlier this week, which came as a surprise to some. But former wicketkeeper-batsman Rashid Latif believes Babar has taken the right call and it will signal his return as the team’s premier batsman.
“Thank you, very much. Der aaye durust aaye (he understood late, but rightly in the end),” said Latif in a video on his social media accounts.
“(Mohammad) Amir, Azam and Imad Wasim have always kept you on your toes, played the World Cup as they wanted to.Now they are gone. Ab Babar ka time aayega. Kaptaani chhor di, pressure khatam ho gaya uske upar (now Babar’s time will come as the pressure of captaincy is off),” he added.
Pakistan made early exits from the ODI World Cup last year and the T20 World Cup this June. However, reports suggest that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) wanted to retain Babar as skipper in the 50-over format.
With Shan Masood already leading the side in Tests, the frontrunner for white-ball captaincy now is wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan.
“A lot of things got damaged by him (Babar), two World Cups went by. He wanted captaincy at the wrong time. That’s why I will advise Rizwan, no way (don’t become captain). Give others a chance; you didn’t get captaincy at a time you should have got it,” opined Latif.
He also suggested a few names for ODI captaincy other than Rizwan, who has been Pakistan’s most consistent batsman of late.
“Shadab (Khan) is a good candidate, Haris (Rauf) is a good candidate, Salman Ali Agha…Let’s see how it goes moving forward,” the 55-year-old former stumper added.
He went on to cite the example of Imran Khan and Younis Khan to explain how a leader can guide the team, unlike a captain who may not have the qualities of a leader.
Pakistan won the ODI World Cup under Imran in 1992 and the T20 World Cup in 2009 when Younis was the team’s captain.
“In the 1992 World Cup, leadership quality took us through. Similarly in 2009-10, Younis Khan was a leader. He took on the (PCB) management at that time. He had the leadership quality, took everyone head-on, even players in the team were unhappy with him. Selection committee resigned, saying this is not our team. He turned them into champions,” said Latif.
“Board mei har koi leader bana hua hai, board mei division ho gayi hai (everyone is a leader in the PCB, it’s a divided house),” he said.
Latif concluded by saying that Pakistan will have to wait until the Champions Trophy next year to find a player who can be the team’s leader.
“My observation is that Pakistan will discover a new leader only after the Champions Trophy. Kaptaan boht hain yahan, leader chahiye (we have many captains, but need a leader).”
The Champions Trophy is scheduled for February-March next year in Pakistan.