Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes removing Babar Azam from the captaincy will not solve the deep-rooted problems in Pakistan cricket.

Manjrekar’s comment came in the wake of Pakistan's first-round exit from the T20 World Cup 2024, currently taking place in the USA and West Indies.

To stay alive in the Super 8 race, the Men in Green needed Ireland to beat the United States. However, inclement weather played spoilsport as the match ended in a no-result, pushing USA to the next round alongside India from Group A.

Pakistan paid the price for a Super Over defeat against USA in their campaign opener, followed by a nervy six-run defeat at the hands of arch-rivals India.

Amid the debacle, a lot of Pakistani fans and former players have called for the wholesale changes and sacking of their captain. However, Manjrekar believes Pakistan's problems will not be fixed by such actions.

"It's not a problem that can be solved by change of leadership or player selection, drop a few players, get a new one and suddenly Pakistan are back at the top. The problem is deep-rooted. I don't think they're getting players of exceptional quality or ability and in the end it has to be about ability, isn't it? You can't say that they played badly and yes, the exhibition wasn't great," Manjrekar said while speaking on Star Sports.

The cricketer-turned-commentator also stated that Babar Azam’s team didn’t deserve to qualify for the Super 8s after how they performed in the group stage.

"Were we expecting Pakistan to reach the final four? No. It wasn't one of the stronger teams, so from that standpoint, not making a Super 8 is a bit of a shocker and they, I mean, that happened because they lost to USA. The way they played they didn't deserve to get in the Super 8 after that performance," he remarked.

Pakistan will conclude their T20 World Cup campaign with the dead-rubber Group A match against Ireland in Florida on Sunday (June 16).