Babar Azam to reclaim Pakistan white-ball captaincy? Misbah-ul-Haq categorically rejects claim, Shaheen Afridi remains firm on retaining role

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Babar Azam to reclaim Pakistan white-ball captaincy? Misbah-ul-Haq categorically rejects claim, Shaheen Afridi remains firm on retaining role originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

  • Pakistan selector Misbah-ul-Haq denies any talks of Babar returning as white-ball captain.
  • Shaheen Shah Afridi says "till now" he remains the ODI captain.
  • Babar recently returned as Pakistan's Test captain against West Indies and England.

Misbah-ul-Haq rejects Babar Azam white-ball captaincy return speculation

Talks about the possibility of Babar Azam being reinstated as Pakistan’s ODI and T20I captain have been completely denied by selector Misbah-ul-Haq, who confirmed that no such plan is in the offing and the issue has never been raised by anyone at the Pakistan camp.

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There had been some speculations about how Babar could emerge as Pakistan’s captain across formats upon his comeback into the Test format.

However, journalist Sanaullah Khan has stated that Misbah was clear that nothing like this is being considered and the idea has never come up for discussion.

This statement from Misbah essentially kills another speculation around Babar as far as captaincy is concerned. According to Misbah, it is just a lot of rumours doing the rounds on social media.

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Shaheen Afridi "till now" remains Pakistan ODI captain

There were also doubts raised regarding the status of Shaheen Afridi as captain of the Pakistan ODI team.

Afridi replaced Mohammed Rizwan as Pakistan ODI captain in October 2025. Asked if he was still getting support from the white-ball team's coach Mike Hesson and selector Aaqib Javed, the left-arm pacer answered briefly: “Till now I am the captain.”

This answer is important because of the uncertainties surrounding Pakistan's captaincies in different formats, given that the return of Babar Azam as Test captain has sparked a new round of speculations about the possibility of bringing all three formats under one captain in the future.

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Babar Azam's Test captaincy return does not extend to white-ball cricket

The re-emergence of Babar as a captain is not completely speculative in nature. The PCB restored his position as the captain of the Test side in July after demoting Shan Masood ahead of the West Indies and England Tests. Masood’s captaincy yielded 12 losses in 16 Tests.

Babar led Pakistan to a 1-1 draw in the two-Test series against the West Indies, with the second Test resulting in an eight-wicket triumph for Pakistan. The series also brought Pakistan their first Test win outside Pakistan in the past three years.

But Babar’s emergence as the Test side’s captain has not necessarily led to any changes in leadership in the white-ball format.

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What next for Pakistan's captaincy?

The most crucial question is: for how long will this setup last?

Pakistan's 2026 Asian Games team provides one hint as to whether the PCB will try to experiment with their leadership structure or not. Sahibzada Farhan was chosen as captain of the young 15-member T20I squad, leaving out Babar and Shaheen among other players.

However, Farhan is chosen only for the upcoming Asian Games, and PCB did not state anything regarding his continuing as Pakistan's T20I captain in the future.

The situation with the ODI team looks quite uncertain as well. Shaheen still holds the position as an incumbent, but there was no end date to his tenure mentioned in the statement, nor did anyone announce when Babar would stop being Pakistan's Test captain.

With the 2027 ODI World Cup fast approaching, Pakistan will soon need to get some clarifications on who will represent them at the tournament as a leader. And PCB may have to explain their position regarding the captaincy once the World Cup cycle gets closer.

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