Pakistan’s cricketing icon Babar Azam has relinquished the white-ball captaincy, ending an era full of both glory and strife. On Tuesday, October 1, Babar issued a statement through which he conveyed that his resignation was made due to his pursuit to balance his life while focusing on his own performance. He was reinstated as Pakistan’s ODI and T20I captain by the Pakistan Cricket Board barely six months ago.

Babar Azam Steps Down From White-Ball Captaincy

Babar resigned from the overall captaincy after Pakistan’s unimpressive exit from the 50-over World Cup in India last November, when the team failed to move past the group stage. Then, after this failure, Shaheen Afridi had briefly taken over the T20 captaincy but was soon dropped after that very disheartening 4-1 series loss to New Zealand. Since the World Cup, Pakistan hasn’t played an ODI. The white-ball formats’ leadership until now remains uncertain.

Even with his reappointment earlier this year, Babar’s second stint as a captain produced limited success. Under his captaincy, Pakistan won a 2-1 series against Ireland but would once more fall short of stiffer competition. They drew a T20 series with New Zealand and two weeks ahead of the T20 World Cup, were comprehensively beaten over two matches by England. The way this side went out of the tournament, including an abject defeat at the hands of co-hosts United States and arch-rivals India, only added to the pressure on Babar’s captaincy.

Fans exploded social media with reactions, some of the fans came in support of this decision while other again brutally trolled him and questioned his poor form and captaincy.

Babar, as a captain, led Pakistan in 43 ODIs, winning 26 and losing 15. He led the team 85 times in T20Is, with his team winning 48 and his team losing 29.