"Babar Azam didn't improve as a captain" - Former Pakistan cricketer cites lack of aggression in star batter's leadership

Former Pakistan pacer Junaid Khan claimed that star batter Babar Azam showed no improvements as a skipper and felt it was the right decision to move on from him. Babar stepped down as captain from all three formats after Pakistan's disappointing 2023 World Cup campaign.

Junaid shed light on how former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed had improved with time and how they won the 2017 Champions Trophy. He felt Babar didn't show any sign of improvement despite being four years at the helm.

Speaking on Nadir Shah's podcast, here's what Junaid Khan had to say about Babar Azam:

"Babar had not improved as a captain. If you see Saifi bhai (Sarfaraz Khan), he kept improving day by day. We won the Champions Trophy under his leadership, became World No.1 in the T20Is. People say we became ODI No.1 team under Babar’s captaincy. But we became No.1 by playing against weak teams. Babar is not a quick learner. He is a world-class batter but his captaincy was not up to the mark."

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Babar Azam needed to show aggression: Junaid Khan

Junaid Khan shed light on captains like Pat Cummins and Virat Kohli, who have led by example and have worn their hearts on their sleeves. He expected Babar Azam to lead with the same passion.

On this, Junaid stated:

"Look at Pat Cummins, he won the ODI World Cup for Australia. He is aggressive, he walks the talk. Virat Kohli also struggled but he has that aggression. He struggled after MS Dhoni retired, but he still has a good record. People will say Dhoni and Stephen Fleming were not aggressive but they know how to lead a side. Babar doesn’t had those traits. You need to show aggression to boost the boys. He has captained all the formats for four years but there was no progress."

Pakistan will play a Test series against Australia later this month under the leadership of Shan Masood.