Lahore (Web Desk/Agencies): Babar Azam returned as skipper of the national T20I and ODI teams after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) selection committee unanimously picked him for the job on Sunday.
In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), PCB announced that Babar Azam has been appointed as white ball captain.
Babar was unceremoniously stripped of the captaincy role in November last year after team’s poor show at the ICC ODI World Cup in India, and he was replaced by fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi as T20I captain by the then Chairman Zaka Ashraf.
Opening batter Shah Masood was handed reins of the test side after Babar decided to step down as red-ball captain as well.
Babar’s removal as captain had received flak from the cricketing circles then and the PCB chairman’s powers to appoint a captain also came under the scanner.
However, the incumbent PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi had announced in March to do away with his powers to appoint a captain and handed the power to the five member selection committee comprising former test cricketers- Mohammad Yousaf, Wahab Riaz, Abdul Razzaq, Asad Shafiq and data analyst Bilal Afzal.
It is pertinent to mention that Babar Azam was first appointed captain of the national T20I side in 2019 and assigned the ODI and red ball captaincy role in 2020.
