Kamran Akmal revealed that he had a discussion regarding Pakistan team captaincy with ace batter Babar Azam when he was made limited-overs captain in 2020, as he was talking about the Pakistan skipper’s struggles with the bat lately.
Akmal revealed that he had told Babar to just focus on his batting as the entire team is dependent on him and not take up the captaincy at this juncture.
Pakistan cricket fraternity has been slamming Babar for his poor batting in the recent Asia Cup 2022, where he badly failed with the bat, and now he has only 7 T20Is to regain his form during the home series against England ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
Well, Akmal revealed that he had asked him to stay away from the captaincy until at least he reaches the level of Virat Kohli, and once he gets past 35 to 40 centuries in international cricket, he can enjoy leading the Pakistan cricket team.
Kamran said during a YouTube show: “During a T20I in Faisalabad when Babar was walking out for the toss, I got to know that he is being made captain. That is when I told him... 'I don't think now is the right time for you to become captain. Give your best performances in the next 2-3 years. The batting line-up is depended on you. Reach Virat Kohli's level first, Steve Smith's level.”
He continued, “By then, you would have scored 35-40 centuries and enjoy captaincy. The moment Sarfaraz leaves, you will be next in line. But now is the right time. I told him back in the day but it was his decision. Those who were close to him must have spoken to him and advised him to take up the captaincy. I had also told him to only concentrate on his batting.
He was scoring runs and would have continued to do so. The flow was beautiful. People enjoyed watching him bat. With captaincy, there will be pressure, which will affect his batting and his approach. And somewhere, that is visible now. But at the same time removing him as captain right now would be a big blunder on the part of the team management. Pakistan cricket will go back.”
Kamran signed off by saying, “But now he has matured. It's been 2-3 years since he has been captaining, but it still should have been better. The way he captained in the final of the Asia Cup final, he has done better than that in the past. He has utilized his bowlers - like Nawaz - really well. But when you don't have form, you can make a few changes at the top. Perhaps push Rizwan down to 3, bat there yourself. Make Fakhar open, maybe he can come back to form. So there are the decisions a captain should take.”
