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'Now Score Plenty Of Runs': AB De Villiers Defends Babar Azam After Captaincy Resignation

AB de Villiers had a sweet reaction to Babar Azam's captaincy resignation post (@babarazam258/X.com)AB de Villiers had a sweet reaction to Babar Azam's captaincy resignation post (@babarazam258/X.com)

South African cricket legend AB de Villiers has expressed his support for Babar Azam after the star Pakistani batter stepped down as captain of the country's white-ball teams. Babar Azam had earlier resigned from captaincy in all three formats following Pakistan's exit from the ODI World Cup last year.

However, in a sudden turn of events, he was reappointed ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup. But as fate would have it, Pakistan underperformed and failed to progress beyond the group stages, sparking further criticism of Babar's leadership and form. On top of it, his form as a pure batter dropped to an all-time low.

Hence, following a series of failures and outside pressure, Babar Azam made the decision to resign as captain for the second time in just 10 months, announcing it via a brief social media post on October 1. 

Babar Azam finds support after stepping down from captaincy 

Meanwhile, former South African explosive batter AB de Villiers reacted to Babar's captaincy resignation post and dropped an encouraging comment.

AB de Villiers highlighted his belief that Babar Azam's focus can now fully shift to his batting whilst recognising his contribution as a leader. 

Notably, the move comes at a time when Babar Azam's form has seen a rare dip, with the prolific batter falling out of the top 10 in the ICC Test rankings. 

But now, Babar Azam is looking to regain his touch and focus on contributing as a key batter for Pakistan, free from the leadership pressures.

Mohammad Rizwan frontrunner to replace Babar Azam

After Babar Azam publicly announced his resignation from captaincy on social media, local news outlets in Pakistan claimed that Babar was forced to resign by PCB. 

Not only that, he reportedly felt targeted and disrespected by his own teammates, giving rise to miscommunication issues.

Having said that, wicket-keeper batter Mohammed Rizwan, who's the senior most player in the Pakistan cricket team after Babar Azam, is touted as the frontrunner to replace the latter as Pakistan's white ball format captain.