Mohammad Amir Calls Babar Azam’s Captaincy Reinstatement “Not a Good Decision”

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Mohammad Amir has called Babar Azam’s reinstatement as Pakistan’s Test captain “not a good decision,” arguing that the added responsibility will undo the batting form Babar has rebuilt over the past six months.

Speaking on Wisden’s podcast The Scoop Extended on July 29, 2026, the former left-arm pacer made his position clear. He praised Babar as the best player in Pakistan right now, then immediately argued against handing him the captaincy again.

“He just started performing well now after a long, long time, like after two and a half years, you can say he’s looking in good touch. And suddenly you’re putting him under pressure, like in Pakistan, you know, from media, our culture is very tough. You’re always on your toes. You have to be answerable for every single thing.”

Mohammad Amir, Wisden’s The Scoop Extended, July 29, 2026

The timing matters. Babar scored 588 runs in PSL 2026 at an average of 84 and a strike rate of 146.26, winning the championship with Peshawar Zalmi. He followed that with scores of 68 and 47 during Pakistan’s tour of Bangladesh. After two and a half years of declining returns across formats, he was finally batting like himself again.

Then the PCB handed him the Test captaincy back.

“He should have been playing like as a player, free of mind, less pressure because he’s the only one like we can trust as a player. He’s the best player in Pakistan right now. But I think as a captain, that’s not a good decision.”

Mohammad Amir, Wisden’s The Scoop Extended, July 29, 2026

Amir’s opposition to Babar’s captaincy is not new. After the 2022 T20 World Cup final at the MCG, where Pakistan lost to England by five wickets, Amir publicly questioned Babar’s tactical decisions. Mohammad Nawaz, whom Babar had called a “match-winner” in a dressing room video, did not bowl a single over in that final.

“The captain should be brave. You didn’t take brave decisions, and when you lose, these things are visible.”

Mohammad Amir, November 2022

In May 2026, Amir went further. He backed Salman Ali Agha for all-format captaincy, calling him more consistent than Babar in that role. Pakistan’s selection dysfunction runs deeper than captaincy. Agha has been T20I captain since 2025 and has played every Pakistan Test since his debut in July 2022.

The PCB chose Babar anyway. Their reasoning, explained by high-performance director Aaqib Javed, focused on Shan Masood’s failures rather than Babar’s strengths.

“We saw many close Test matches [under Masood’s captaincy], but a few things were not being addressed. The captain has a responsibility of finishing games.”

Aaqib Javed, PCB Director of High Performance

Masood’s record made the decision easier to justify. He lost 12 of his 16 Tests as captain, a record no Pakistan captain has ever matched. The losses included a 3-0 whitewash in Australia, a 2-0 series defeat in South Africa, and a 2-0 sweep by Bangladesh. Pakistan sit bottom of the 2025-2027 World Test Championship table.

But Wisden’s own analysis pointed out a deeper problem: there was nobody else. Shaheen Shah Afridi was dropped from the Test squad entirely. Rizwan lost 11 of his first 20 matches as ODI captain before being replaced. Agha’s T20I captaincy may have actually disqualified him under the PCB’s new format-separation policy. Babar was, by elimination, the last man standing.

Babar Azam has not scored a Test century since December 2022, a drought stretching across 29 innings. His first Test back as captain, the opening match against West Indies at Tarouba, ended in a 90-run defeat. He remained unbeaten on 58 in the fourth innings while nine teammates fell around him. Pakistan’s eighth consecutive away Test loss.

Why the Captaincy Debate Keeps Circling Back to Babar

The core of Amir’s argument has not changed in four years. He has consistently said Babar is Pakistan’s best batter but not equipped to lead. In 2022, it was about tactical bravery. In 2026, it is about mental bandwidth. The specific criticism has evolved, but the conclusion is identical.

Pakistan’s captaincy record across formats tells its own story. Since Babar stepped down in November 2023, Pakistan have used Masood in Tests, Rizwan then Shaheen in ODIs, and Rizwan then Agha in T20Is. None of them produced consistent results. The PCB’s revolving door has created exactly the instability Amir warns captaincy pressure will cause for Babar’s batting.

Babar’s first stint as Test captain produced 10 wins in 20 matches, with a batting average above 50. Those numbers are respectable by any standard. But his return begins at a different point. Pakistan are losing away from home at a historic rate. The bowling attack that once carried the team has lost Shaheen from the Test setup. The batting lineup collapsed for 120 chasing 211 in Tarouba despite Babar doing his part.

The question Amir is really asking is whether Pakistan can afford to risk their one reliable batter’s form for the sake of a captaincy role that may not fix the deeper problems.

Insider Read

Amir is describing something every professional cricketer in Pakistan understands but rarely says publicly. Captaining Pakistan is not the same job as captaining Australia or England.

In most Test nations, the captain faces a press conference at the end of the day’s play. In Pakistan, the captain faces the entire country between every session. Former cricketers on four or five TV channels are dissecting every field placement in real time. WhatsApp groups with millions of members are circulating clips of dropped catches before the next over starts. The captain’s phone, even when switched off, carries the weight of an opinion ecosystem that does not pause.

For a batter, this changes everything about preparation between innings. In a Test match, the gap between batting sessions is where you reset. You review what the bowlers are doing, you talk to your partner about the plan, you eat, you let your mind settle. A captain in Pakistan does not get that window. The gap between innings becomes a series of decisions about bowling changes, media obligations, selection justifications, and messages from the board. By the time you walk out to bat again, you have already spent more mental energy than most batters spend in an entire day.

Babar averaged 51.65 with the bat during his first captaincy stint. That number looks like proof that captaincy did not affect him. But averages hide the cost. The mental toll shows up not in the runs scored but in the hundreds that do not come. Babar has not converted a fifty into a Test century since December 2022. That is not a technical problem. That is a bandwidth problem. The concentration required to go from 50 to 100 in Test cricket demands a mind that is not already carrying a second job.

Amir knows this because he played under captains who carried the same weight. He watched what it did to them. His argument is not about whether Babar is good enough to captain Pakistan. It is about whether Pakistan is willing to sacrifice the one batter who is currently performing just to fill a leadership vacancy that might break him again.

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Anshul Kumawat
Anshul Kumawat is a professional cricketer from Jaipur, Rajasthan with over 23 years of playing experience. He has represented teams at National School Games, BCCI Vijay Merchant Trophy, Inter University level, Vijay Hazare Camp, Challenger Trophy and All India tournaments.

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