Babar Azam appointed as Pakistan captain across all three formats, says PCB's Wasim Khan

Karachi: A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board has made it clear that Babar Azam has been appointed captain for all three formats on a long-term basis. “I can assure you this that until Ehsan Mani and myself are in the Pakistan board Babar will remain captain. We have appointed him captain because he is our best batsman, young and mentally very strong and he himself wanted to take on the responsibility for all three formats,” PCB chief executive officer Wasim Khan said in an interview. [caption id=“attachment_8991671” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  File image of Pakistan’s Babar Azam. AP[/caption] When the PCB official was reminded about the constant changing and chopping in Pakistan cricket, he insisted that Babar was there to stay for a long time. “We felt that he is our best choice because he has a good future, he is our best batsman and getting better every day and we have found him to be mentally very strong when we first tested him as captain in the white-ball formats. “That’s why when the time came we felt that Azhar Ali had done his best but now was the time to start grooming Babar and make him test captain as well,” Khan said. He said the chairman Mani had held a discussion with Babar and later on decided he was ready for the job. “Babar himself showed keen interest in becoming test captain and assured us he could handle the pressures and it would not affect his batting,” Khan added.