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As captain, Babar Azam is still developing, and he
merits support. Mickey Arthur, Pakistan’s director of cricket, made this
statement following his team’s disappointing World Cup campaign, which ended
with a 93-run loss to England.
Pakistan struggled through the middle of the league
stage, losing to Afghanistan, South Africa, Australia, India, and South Africa
in a succession before finishing with five losses in nine matches. Babar’s
personal form wasn’t up to par considering the extraordinarily high bar he
frequently sets in white-ball cricket. He made a best score of 74, averaged 40,
and struck at 82.9, hitting five fifties.
Babar’s captaincy has thus come under intense scrutiny
at home. As recently as September, he was the highest ranked ODI batter, and
Pakistan was the highest ranked ODI team. However, unsatisfactory World Cup and
Asia Cup performances have since altered perceptions of his leadership.
“I get behind Babar – he is very, very close to
me,” Arthur said after the loss to England. “He’s a young guy that
needs to be taken on the journey with. He needs to be shown the ropes. He’s
still learning all the time. We know he’s a very, very fine batsman. He learns
every day with his captaincy.”
Babar has had the ODI reins for over three years now,
and at 29 has played international cricket for more than eight years.
“He’s growing and we have to allow him the time
to grow,” Arthur said. “And in order to do that, you make mistakes.
It’s not a crime to make mistakes as long as you learn from those mistakes and
as a group, we’ve made a lot of mistakes this World Cup. But if this group
grows and learns from it, we’ve got the core of a very, very good side.”