Rawalpindi
\nFormer South Africa captain AB de Villiers has shown his support for Babar Azam after the Pakistani star resigned as the white-ball captain.
\nThe 29-year-old made the announcement through a statement on social media, explaining his decision to focus on his batting role for the team.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s been an honour to lead this team, but it\u2019s time for me to step down and focus on my playing role,\u201d Babar said. His decision has taken the cricket world by surprise.
\nDe Villiers reacted by congratulating Babar, saying, \u201cCongrats. You\u2019ve been great. Now for plenty more runs for your team,\u201d in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
\nWith Babar stepping down, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has emerged as the leading candidate for the ODI captaincy, while Mohammad Haris is under consideration for the T20I leadership. Babar remains a crucial part of Pakistan\u2019s Test side and will next face England in a three-match series starting on October 7th.
\nPakistan squad for first Test against England: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper), and Shaheen Shah Afridi, Zahid Mehmood.
\nPakistan, England Test series schedule:
\n7-11 Oct \u2013 First Test, Multan
\n15-19 Oct \u2013 Second Test, Multan
\n24-28 Oct \u2013 Third Test, Rawalpindi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rawalpindi Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers has shown his support for Babar Azam after the Pakistani star resigned as the white-ball captain. The 29-year-old made the announcement through a statement on social media, explaining his decision to focus on his batting role for the team. \u201cIt\u2019s been an honour to lead this team, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-435182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n