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‘Babar Azam’s numbers went down…': Ricky Ponting asserts captaincy doesn't sit well with some people
Ricky Ponting pointed out that captaincy is not everyone's cup of tea, and some of the best players have not been the best leaders for their side.
Legendary Australia skipper Ricky Ponting gave his take on Babar Azam's captaincy in recent times, as his numbers have dropped down recently. Babar is set to lead Pakistan in the T20 World Cup for the third time this year. In the lead-up to the mega ICC event, Pakistan suffered a few roadblocks with some underwhelming performances.
Babar and Co. lost a T20I in Ireland and then suffered a 0-2 defeat in England this week, which was not the ideal result before a global event. Meanwhile, prior to that, Pakistan drew 2-2 at home against New Zealand, which missed some of the senior members.
The premier Pakistan batter was sacked as captain after last year's ODI World Cup but the change in the PCB management reversed the decision as he replaced Shaheen Shah Afridi as white-ball skipper earlier this year.
Ponting, one of the greatest captains in cricket history, pointed out that captaincy is not everyone's cup of tea, and some of the best players have not been the best leaders for their side.
"Captaincy just sits well with some people and it doesn't sit well with others. We've seen it through the years that some of the best players that have ever played the game have not necessarily made the best captains, and the thing that makes some of the very best players so good is how focused they are on what they need to do to get better and to be the best and find a way every day to get better," Ponting told ICC.
"And when you are captain, you can't do that. You've got to actually compartmentalise what you're doing, look after your own game, look after all the guys around you," he added.
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The Aussie legend further asserted that it's important for captains to learn from their mistakes and suggested that Babar also need to work on his shortcomings as his numbers have went down a bit.
"So some guys can manage that better than others. I reckon Babar, when he first started, I had that feeling that he... because if you look at his record, his numbers went down on the back of it. So I think he might have learned a bit from that."
Meanwhile, Babar and Co. will kick off their T20 WC campaign against co-hosts USA on June 6. They will face arch-rival India on June 9 at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York.
