Discipline, fitness and performance are the three criteria Babar Azam has set for his team as he prepares for his second stint as Pakistan Test captain, which begins later this month with a two-Test series in the Caribbean. Babar also said that he will provide full support to the players, but it will have to be earned.Pakistan handed over the reins of the Test team back to Babar after a dismal failure in the format under the leadership of Shan Masood, who took over the reins from Babar and led Pakistan to 12 defeats in 16 matches.Pakistan finished the last cycle of the World Test Championship at the bottom and continue to languish there in the current cycle with a single win from four matches. They were recently beaten 2-0 in Bangladesh and have not won an away Test series since they beat Sri Lanka in July 2023, when Babar, incidentally, was captain. Babar has led Pakistan to 10 wins from 20 Tests with four draws overall and Pakistan will be hoping for a change of fortune ahead of the West Indies and England tours with him back at the helm.
“I am honored to lead Pakistan again,” Babar said in a digital interview with PCB released on Monday. “I have learned from my past experiences leading a team and playing as a player. This time I am very confident and feel like I have become a better person and have matured. So, this time I will lead this team with better planning and a positive attitude… There were both negative and positive aspects in my last tenure which I analyzed and it gave me clarity.
“My main focus is on discipline, fitness and performance and there can be no compromise on these. They are of utmost importance to me in building this team. “I have always supported the players when I was in charge of the team, but this can only be done when there is a positive reaction from the players.”
Pakistan have made many changes from their last Test team that toured Bangladesh, with almost all changes in the bowling department. The selectors felt the need for a new bowling attack due to the docile fast bowling displayed in the two Tests at Mirpur and Sylhet. In a major development, they removed their most experienced fast bowler at the moment, Shaheen Afridi, as well as Hasan Ali and Noman Ali. All-rounder Amad Butt, who did not play in either of the two Tests, was also ruled out.
Pakistan recalled fast bowlers Mohammad Ali, who played for Nottinghamshire in the first division of the County Championship and Vitality Blast T20, and Aamir Jamal, and also included 20-year-old Ubaid Shah, the younger brother of Naseem and Hunain, in their squad, uncapped to overcome problems with fast bowling, replaced Noman with Ali Usman, who topped the bowling charts in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. 2025–26 with 48 wickets in eight matches for Multan.
They also held a month-long summer camp at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore to prepare the team for the two tours, which Babar said was necessary in the current circumstances.
“Over the years, I have realized that we lack fitness in Test cricket due to which we have not produced impressive results with bat or ball,” he said. “Through one-on-one conversations with coaches and management, the players learned why they were unable to perform in critical situations and this exercise helped us focus on fitness. We also worked on our field during the harvest and learned how to survive in adverse conditions as this harvest was held in scorching heat.
Babar Azam last scored a Test century in December 2022.•AFP/Getty Images
“It is important to understand where and why we had problems in tests. Bowlers must have the same intensity in the second and third periods as in the first. Fatigue will set in, but as a player you must be ready to meet the demands of the team. That goes for batters too, and I don’t compromise on that. In this camp we focused more on practice matches and this allowed the players to fight over multiple sessions and hours, which I believe will be beneficial for them.”
“This is a young team and it has the best players from our country. I am confident that I will lead this team because they are all the best players we have. As a senior player and captain, you must know how to get good results from them while maintaining a calm environment because international cricket is all about handling pressure. I talk to them about how they can handle different situations and stay focused.”
Over the past few years, Babar has been mentioned in international formats due to which he has remained under scrutiny. His averages since the start of 2024 have been significantly lower than his overall figures across formats: T20 32.67 to 38.94, ODI 39 to 53.43 and Tests 28.72 to 42.67. But his form has improved in all three formats in recent times. He set the record for most runs in a single edition of the PSL when he led Peshawar Zalmi to the title earlier in the year and played crucial knocks of 40 and 69 in the first and third ODIs against Australia on furious turners to help Pakistan seal the series 2-1. He scored 47 and 68 in Pakistan’s last Test in Sylhet after missing the Mirpur Test due to injury.
But he last scored a Test century in December 2022 against New Zealand in Karachi and he will be happy to end that drought in the next five matches. That the added pressure of being a team captain to bring out his best could work in his favor. His average as captain in Tests is 50.79 and he scored four of his nine runs while wearing the armband.
“I try to take charge and not beat myself up when I go into the middle,” he said of his form. “It doesn’t matter if I’m the captain of the team. If the team needs me to score quickly, that’s what I do. If the situation requires me to defend myself, I shape myself that way. There is always pressure when you bat (whether you are a captain or not). I enjoy the responsibility.”
Babar’s second stint as captain will begin on July 25 when they play West Indies at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba. The second Test of the two-match series will be played at Queen’s Park Oval from August 2 to 6. The series follows three Tests in England at Headingley (19-23 August), Lord’s (27-31 August) and Edgbaston (9-13 September).
Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi is a Lahore-based cricket journalist.