Pakistan’s Babar Azam has regained his form in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2026. Babar has had a breakthrough season, leading Peshawar Zalmi into the final after five years. There have been calls on social media to make Babar Pakistan’s captain again. While there has been widespread criticism of his captaincy before as well, the 31-year-old is open to the idea of leading the Pakistan team again.
“The issue of captaincy is another thing right now I am just focussing on the Pakistan Super League final. But if in future such a situation arises I will always do what is in the best interests of Pakistan cricket,” Babar said during the pre-match press conference.
Currently, Salman Agha is leading Pakistan’s T20I side. Under his leadership, Pakistan faced a Super 8 exit from T20 World Cup 2026. Also, his batting numbers were poor. Recently, in an interview, Agha said that he is ready to take a break from T20Is.
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Pakistan’s ODI side is being led by Shaheen Afridi. Under Shaheen, Pakistan have won five ODIs out of eight. Before T20 World Cup 2024, Shaheen was leading the T20I side as well. However, after series defeat against New Zealand, Babar was reinstated as captain. It is yet to be seen whether history repeats itself.
Babar’s captaincy record across formats
Babar has led Pakistan in 20 Tests, 43 ODIs and 85 T20Is. Babar has won 48 T20Is as captain and has a win percentage of 56.47. He led Pakistan to the final of T20 World Cup 2022 where they lost to England. Babar has won 26 ODIs as captain. Under his leadership, Pakistan faced an early exit from ODI World Cup 2023. In T20 World Cup 2024, Babar was captain and they lost to USA, leading to an early exit as well. In Tests, Babar has 10 wins from 20 games. He has faced six defeats as Test captain.
Babar’s stellar run in PSL 2026
Babar is the leading run-scorer in PSL 2026 ahead of the final. From 10 innings, he has scored 588 runs at an average of 84 and strike rate of 146.26. He has scored two centuries and three fifties in the season. He is one run away from breaking Lahore Qalandars' Fakhar Zaman's record for most runs in a single PSL edition.