Former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik has slammed Babar Azam’s leadership after the Men in Green were knocked out of the T20 World Cup 2024 in the group stage itself. Malik also urged Babar to step down as Pakistan captain.

Pakistan lost to USA and India in their first two matches of Group A and though they defeated Ireland and Canada, Pakistan failed to qualify for Super 8s.

Recalling his own experience, Malik, who led Pakistan in the inaugural T20 World Cup, mentioned being asked to captain the team again a few years later. He declined, preferring to focus on his performance as a player. Malik believes that the captaincy has affected Babar's batting performance.

"I think I would immediately resign from the captaincy and focus on my cricket. This had happened with me when I was offered the captaincy again for a year around 2009-10, but I denied it because I just wanted to focus on my cricket. I am not just saying for the sake of it. His numbers also tell a story,” Malik said on Ten Sports.

As captain, Babar's batting average in T20Is dropped down to 37.28 (in 77 innings) from 48.48 in 38 innings before that.

Aside from Babar's batting performance, Malik noted that his leadership qualities have not improved noticeably.

"If there was any improvement as a leader of the team then definitely he should have continued. But there hasn't been any. Captain is the one who gets the best out of players. He captained in three T20 World Cups, an ODI World Cup, and two Asia Cups and won nothing," Malik noted.

Here is the video: