Ian Chappell expresses empathy for Babar Azam amidst Pakistan’s captaincy chaos

Babar Azam’s tenure as captain of the Pakistan cricket group got here to an abrupt finish following a disappointing efficiency within the ODI World Cup 2023 held in India. 

Regardless of excessive hopes for a turnaround after a lackluster Asia Cup marketing campaign, Pakistan completed fifth within the 10-team competitors, prompting Azam to step down from the captaincy. 

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) subsequently appointed Shan Masood as captain for Checks and Shaheen Afridi for T20Is.

Ian Chappell, a legendary Australian cricketer turned commentator, expressed empathy for Azam, acknowledging him as a “superb participant.”  Whereas talking on the Large World of Sports activities Outdoors the Rope, Chappell, nonetheless, characterised the frequent change in captains as typical of Pakistan. 

“Yeah that is a pity, I feel Babar’s an excellent participant. He isn’t leaving the Pakistan facet and perhaps they’ll discover a higher captain. Nevertheless it’s typical of Pakistan, they modify captains (ceaselessly),” Chappell stated.

Regardless of criticisms of Azam’s captaincy, his general document stays spectacular, having 78 wins and 44 losses in 134 video games throughout codecs.

Looking forward to Pakistan’s upcoming tour of Australia, Chappell famous the problem posed by Australia’s tempo assault, together with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood. Pakistan’s historic struggles in Australia, with solely 4 wins out of 37 Check matches, had been highlighted by Chappell. 

Whereas acknowledging the potential decline of the Australian facet, particularly with the eventual departure of Warner, Chappell emphasised the formidable nature of Australia’s tempo assault, notably on bouncy pitches, which he believes might hassle Pakistan.

“The issue with Pakistan is they do not have an amazing document in Australia, even after they had good sides who might bat and bowl. They have some good quickies in the meanwhile however the bounce of Australian pitches has all the time troubled them,” Chappell stated.

“In case you take a look at the Australian facet, they may be on the wane a bit, notably when Warner goes however they’ve nonetheless acquired an excellent assault and it is a good tempo assault. Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood, these blokes will fear Pakistan with that further bounce,” he concluded.