'Not a born leader,' Sikander Bakht criticises Babar Azam

Former Test cricketer, Sikander Bakht, believes that Pakistan skipper, Babar Azam, still has a lot to learn as a captain, and stated that Babar is not a born leader.

Sikander shared his views on current national team captain Babar's leadership skills in a recent interview on a YouTube channel. 

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"Honestly speaking, Babar has to learn a lot as a captain. There are so many people who are born as leaders. Babar is not a born leader," he said. 

"When he was given the captaincy, I said in my interview that he wasn't a good choice. I wanted him to prove me wrong by showing his captaincy but he didn't," he added.

Bakht pointed out some areas where Babar can improve as a captain, such as utilizing all his players and reacting to different situations in the game. 

He gave an example of how Mushtaq Ahmed used to make use of Wasim Raja to provide breakthroughs in critical situations during his captaincy.

"So many times I think Babar does scripted captaincy. He pens down the plan and comes with it in the ground. It doesn't work at all. Cricket is a game of situations. Being a captain, you have to be smart enough to react in different situations, if you don't, then you are not a good captain," Sikander said. 

"Let me tell you, Mushtaq Ahmed was our captain. He used to bring Wasim Raja, one of the great all-rounders of his time, to provide a breakthrough. So many times Mushtaq made use of Wasim and the latter provided a breakthrough to the team before Lunch," he concluded. 

However, it should be noted that Babar has had some success as a captain. Under his leadership, Pakistan won 40 international matches out of 60 played from 2019 to 2022. Babar also led the team to the semi-final of ICC T20 World Cup 2021, final of ICC T20 World Cup 2022, and Asia Cup 2022.

In conclusion, while Bakht believes that Babar still has room for improvement as a captain, his track record as a captain shows that he has the potential to lead the Pakistan team to further success.