PCB: The Pakistan Cricket Board has re-appointed the star batsman for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024: Babar Azam is set to lead Pakistan in this year’s Men’s T20 World Cup as he has been handed the captaincy of the white-ball format following a unanimous recommendation from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) selection committee.
The reason behind why Azam has to walk out of captaincy is that after a poor performance in the ODI World Cup 2023 hosted by India last year, Pakistan cricket veteran captain Babar Azam has stepped down from the captaincy of international cricket formats.
Subsequently, Shaheen Shah Afridi was appointed T20 captain. On the other hand, Shan Masood received the order during the cricket test match.
Still, there was no discernible improvement in the Pakistani team’s performance, even with the new leadership. “Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi has appointed Babar Azam as white-ball (ODI and T20I) captain of the Pakistan men’s cricket team,” PCB confirmed on social media.
Shaheen Shah Afridi T20 captaincy
Shaheen Shah Afridi took over as Pakistan’s T20I captain, while the red-ball leadership role was handed over to Shan Masood following their ODI World Cup campaign in November last year.
Afridi was handed the T20I captaincy based on his performances in the Pakistan Super League, where he led Lahore Qalandars to consecutive title wins in 2022 and 2023.
However, during his first assignment as captain, leading Pakistan in a five-match T20I series in New Zealand, the team won only one game.
Babar Azam returns to captaincy
Following his reappointment as captain, Azam’s first task will be to lead the team in the forthcoming five-game home T20I series against New Zealand. Under his direction, Pakistan will try to intensify its preparations for the significant T20 World Cup, which is only two months away.
Pakistan made it to the 2022 T20 World Cup final in Australia under his direction. With the competition moving to the USA and the West Indies, they will now be looking for a stronger showing.
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Groups
A total of 20 teams will play in the T20 World Cup 2024, which have been divided into four groups of five each. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super Eight stage, where the remaining teams will be divided into two groups of four each. After this, the top two teams from each group will reach the semi-finals.
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| 1. India | 1. England | 1. New Zealand | 1. South Africa |
| 2. Pakistan | 2. Australia | 2. West Indies | 2. Sri Lanka |
| 3. Ireland | 3. Namibia | 3. Afghanistan | 3. Bangladesh |
| 4. Canada | 4. Scotland | 4. Uganda | 4. Netherlands |
| 5. USA | 5. Oman | 5. Papua New Guinea | 5. Nepal |