Azhar Ali brushes aside reports of being sacked as Pakistan Test captain

Azhar Ali has brushed aside reports of him being sacked as Pakistan’s Test captain and said the rumours are just mere media speculations.

While speaking to reporters in a in a virtual news conference, Azhar said that he has not been approached by anyone in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) regarding the aforementioned matter.

“As far as my captaincy is concerned, I am hearing from the media only and I have not held a meeting with anyone about any such thing,” said Azhar.

“I try not to think about any such thing and focus on my game. Once we were on the Australia tour and such types of talks had started. When any official talk will be there then effort would be made to address that. When there is no official talk about this topic, it is very difficult for me to comment on it," he added.

Things doesn’t seem to be getting any better for Pakistan Test captain, as Central Punjab lost their opening Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match by six wickets to Sindh, after a spirited declaration by Azhar on the final day. The Lahore-born batsman was able to muster only 40 runs in his two innings in the match.

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Azhar’s batting form has been poor in the last couple of years while he has also faced criticism over his style of captaincy.

It must be noted that Ali replaced wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed as the skipper in October last year but his meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan, regarding changes in Pakistan’s domestic structure, could be one of the reasons why the PCB is keen on removing him from the role. Azhar had met PM Imran along with head coach Misbhaul Haq and veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, without informing the PCB, which did not go down well with the board’s top brass.