A day after Babar Azam resigned as Pakistan’s limited-overs captain, Sikander Bakht claimed that he was asked to take the decision by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), with his compatriots in line to take up the role.

“He was told to resign. Look, we have three captains in our base. There are groups of three captains. One is Babar, another is Rizwan. They want to become captains. Shaheen wants to become captain again. And there is also Shan Masood. Shan Masood lost five or six matches,” Bakht told Geo News.

Pakistan registered one of their worst performance in the marquee event, losing to the hosts United States in a Super-Over thriller before registering their second-consecutive loss to their arch-rivals Team India, to exit the Group Stage.

It marked another series of poor performances in the limited overs under Azam’s captaincy after Pakistan registered a group-stage exit in the 2023 ODI World Cup and he was subsequently removed from the role. Before being reappointed to the role in March 2024.

The former Pakistan medium pacer further said that he should have taken responsibility for the ouster much earlier.

“Ab sharam ayi! (You finally felt ashamed!) As soon as our World Cup was over on 16th June because we had not qualified further, he should have resigned at the same time. The whole nation was saying that he should have resigned. But he was stubborn. Because his style was like this, he was king (In a sarcastic way). His performance was not good, neither was theirs. Anyway, they should have seen that we are removed in two ways. I don’t know what happened to him,” said.

However, PCB released a statement following his resignation, stating, “This decision is a testament to his professionalism and commitment to Pakistan cricket. He believes that dedicating himself fully to his batting will enable him to play a more decisive role in the team’s success in the shorter formats”.