Zaka Ashraf, the former Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on Saturday remarked that Babar Azam struggled with the responsibilities of captaincy during his tenure.

Azam was recently reinstated as the leader for white-ball cricket, taking over from Shaheen Afridi in T20Is. Azam had previously stepped down from captaincy across all formats following Pakistan's disappointing performance in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup during Ashraf's leadership. Afridi assumed the T20I captaincy while Shan Masood was appointed for red-ball cricket.

Afridi's captaincy in T20Is came under scrutiny after Pakistan's lackluster series in New Zealand and Lahore Qalandars' poor showing in the Pakistan Super League. Eventually, Azam replaced Afridi as T20I captain.

Ashraf, speaking to reporters in Lahore, revealed that Azam voluntarily resigned from all formats of captaincy.

"I offered to retain Babar Azam as the captain for red-ball cricket, but we wanted to appoint a new captain for white-ball cricket. He responded by stating that if he were to be replaced as captain in one format, he would rather step down from captaincy in all formats. Consequently, I suggested that he should focus on playing as a team member for Pakistan, as it was clear that he was finding it challenging to cope with the pressure of captaincy," Ashraf said.

Ashraf believed it premature to remove Shaheen from white-ball captaincy. However, he conveyed his best wishes to Azam and the national cricket team.

Furthermore, a reporter also inquired Ashraf whether Shahid Afridi had recommended appointing Mohammad Rizwan as the captain for T20Is.

Ashraf replied that Afridi had not provided any such suggestion.

"He [Shahid Afridi] didn’t give me any such suggestion," Ashraf said.