Babar Azam is set to be announced as Pakistan captain for all three formats till the 2023 World Cup in India later this year.
Earlier this month, Chairman of the PCB Management Committee, Najam Sethi, had announced Babar as captain only for the New Zealand series.
Sethi in recent interviews offered conditional backing to Babar and said that Pakistan captain will not be changed as long as the team keeps winning, and the final decision will be made in consultation with Mickey Arthur.
Arthur recently arrived in Pakistan for a short visit and was announced as Pakistan’s team director on Thursday during a press conference.
During his visit, Arthur held meetings with Sethi, in which he casted his vote in favour of Babar, stating that the star batter has the ability to take the team in right direction, so there is no reason for a change in captaincy. Sethi has already approved Arthur’s recommendation.
Babar enjoys a good captaincy record in limited-overs format. However, the team failed to win a single home Test under his leadership in 2022. Despite this, Arthur wants Babar to lead the team in the Test series against Sri Lanka in July.
According to sources, an important point discussed during the meeting was that if the captain is changed, who would be the alternative? No consensus could be reached on a suitable alternative, hence it was decided that Babar would remain captain till the 2023 World Cup.
Sources further added that during the aforementioned meeting, Arthur told Sethi that the current Pakistan team has the capability to win the World Cup, as there are several match winners in the team. They just need proper guidance, and this task will be done with support from his coaching staff.
Sethi has given full authority to the team director and all decisions will be taken based on his recommendations. An official announcement regarding appointing Babar as captain in all three formats until the World Cup is expected in the coming days.
