Babar Azam should not have been made the T20 captain: Intikhab Alam

Pakistan’s shocking loss in the second T20I against England has not gone too well among experts, critics, and fans. If Shoaib Akhtar felt the decision to bowl first by Babar Azam as a strange one, then former Pakistan cricketer Intikhab Alam has gone as far as saying that that decision to appoint Azam as the all-format captain is a wrong move by the management.

While there is no question on his batting might as he scored a career-best 158 in the third ODI against England, a few questionable calls while leading the side, has made many former Pakistan cricketers angry.

The 26-year-old’s strange captaincy move was there for all to see when despite the team posting its highest T20I score, Azam decided to bowl first on a spin-friendly and a slow pitch at Headingly in the second T20I.

Now, Intikhab Alam spoke about Azam’s captaincy and why he should not have been made the leader in all three formats. “When Babar was appointed captain in all formats, I had stated that this was not the right thing to do. I think there is too much pressure on him due to captaincy in all formats, even if he himself says that this is not the case. If we wanted to give him captaincy, it should have only been in Test cricket and ODIs. There should have been another captain in T20 cricket,” said Intikhab to Cricket Pakistan.

Intikhab Alam not happy with Pakistan coaches

Earlier last week, angry Pakistani fans had vented their frustration on head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis for failing to have an impact on the team. Now, Alam too has slammed the duo’s performance and feels Younis and Misbah have failed to bring in the consistent results.

“If you gauge the performance of the coaching staff, there isn’t much improvement in the past couple of years and the defeat against England in the ODI series is also going to affect the morale of the team,” he said.

“The T20 World Cup is just around the corner, so hopefully the team will do well in the upcoming T20 matches and go into the mega event with a positive frame of mind. The conditions in UAE are similar to Pakistan, which will benefit the Pakistan team as well.”