Pakistan’s Chief Selector, Wahab Riaz, has provided insights into the choice made by the former captain, Babar Azam, to resign from leadership duties across all three cricket formats.
While speaking to the media after announcing the national team squad for the three-match Test series against Australia, Wahab said that Shan Masood, with prior captaincy experience at Yorkshire, has earned the trust of the selection committee.
“Babar Azam has stepped down from captaincy on his own accord, I do not know what the discussion between Babar and the Chairman was and I cannot comment on it. Shan Masood has captained Yorkshire previously and we have put our trust in him. He is going to remain the captain in the near future. We will not be removing anyone based on one series,” Wahab said.
On November 15, after a meeting with the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) management committee, Zaka Ashraf, Babar relinquished his captaincy role from all the three-formats of the game.
— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) November 15, 2023
Following his decision to step down from captaincy, the board promptly unveiled new leaders for the Test and T20I formats. Shan Masood was named as the captain for the longer format, while pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi was named the skipper for the shorter format.
