PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has offered Babar Azam captaincy in the white ball formats but the star player has not yet made his decision, sources have claimed.
It has been learnt that Babar has set down conditions for accepting the captaincy, including having a say in the appointment of coaches. Babar has also conveyed that he should be given the responsibility in all three formats.
The national selectors, though are divided on the issue.
A former Punjab caretaker minister, who apparently has no cricket background, is not in favour of giving back absolute power to Babar.
“Some members of the selection committee now feel the best thing is to let Shaheen Shah Afridi continue as captain for the home T20 series against New Zealand in April and give him a chance to prove his credentials,” one well-informed source said.
The selectors — Muhammad Yousuf, Asad Shafiq, Abdul Razzaq, Wahab Riaz and the former minister, Bilal Afzal — after meeting Naqvi asked him to take the final call.
“They made their opinions clear to the PCB chief... Naqvi has told them to convince Babar to accept the white ball captaincy for now and the Board will take a call on the red ball after the T20 World Cup,” the source added.
The Test captaincy is with Shan Masood.
Similarly there is also no clarity on the appointment of foreign coaches. The PCB is hoping that their negotiations with Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillispie are successful.
