Pakistan became No.1 by playing against weak teams: Former pacer Junaid Khan

Former Pakistan left arm pacer Junaid Khan has termed Babar Azam as an ordinary captain and has said that Pakistan became No.1 by playing against weaker sides.

Babar Azam after World Cup 2023 stepped down from captaincy in all formats. PCB then appointed Shan Masood as the Test captain of Pakistan Men’s Cricket Team, while Shaheen Shah Afridi was named T20I captain.

In a recent podcast with a YouTube channel, Junaid Khan took the opportunity to dissect Azam’s leadership skills.

“Babar had not improved as a captain. If you see Sarfaraz Ahmed, 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,” Junaid Khan said.

“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,” he concluded.