Babar Azam ‘struggles to handle captaincy pressure’: Waqar Younis believes Pakistan ‘losing him as a player’

Waqar Younis believes Babar Azam cannot handle the pressure of captaincy, and it's reflected in his batting.

Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis, widely regarded as one of the finest pacers to have ever played the sport, reckons that the national team is losing Babar Azam as a player after once again giving him the captaincy in the Test format. Waqar, who has held multiple coaching positions with the Pakistan men's team in the past, believes that the right-handed batter struggles to handle the pressure of the leadership role and, hence, it's not fair to both the other players and the eventual job.

Pakistan's Babar Azam batting on day three of the third cricket test. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

Waqar's comments came days after Pakistan were blanked 3-0 by England in the three-match Test series. The contest will be remembered for all the wrong reasons as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sent seven players and two coaches back home after the team went 0-2 down after the first two Tests.

Babar, ahead of the third Test, made it clear that he had no say and wasn't consulted by the Mohsin Naqvi-helmed board. This comment drew flak from several former players, including Wasim Akram, who criticised Babar for not standing by his team.

“I have seen him as a player. Technically, a very sound player. Very complete and elegant player. As a player, I don't personally see anything wrong with him. But I think with the captaincy pressure, he takes a little too much on himself. Whenever he takes this responsibility or is given a responsibility, I don't think he performs that well,” said Waqar during an event.

“So I think we are losing a player if we are going to give him this responsibility because he struggles to handle that. You have to be strong as a person, and you have to be really out there and back your players. If you cannot back your players, it's unfair to the players and the job,” he added.

Babar's century drought

The 31-year-old has gone almost four years without scoring a century in Tests, with his last coming in December 2022 against New Zealand. He got close to scoring one against the West Indies and then against England in the third and final Test, but missed out after losing his wicket against the run of play.

Earlier this year, Babar reclaimed the Test captaincy after Shan Masood was removed after Pakistan lost the two-match series against Bangladesh.

Pakistan are currently in the ninth spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) standings with just four points. The side were docked 11 points due to a slow over-rate in the third and final Test in Edgbaston, Birmingham.