India's World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev has expressed his support for Babar Azam despite criticism of the Pakistan captain's leadership following his team's exit from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

Former World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev defended Pakistan captain Babar Azam amid criticism over his captaincy in the 2023 World Cup.

Pakistan endured a dismal season, winning just four of their nine matches and finishing fifth in the points table. This meant that the team failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup for the third consecutive year.

However, despite all the negative talk, former India captain Kapil Dev has defended Babar Azam and recalled that the 29-year-old was instrumental in helping Pakistan become No. 1 in ODI cricket in the recent past. He added that voters should not rely solely on current performance and should monitor his performance in crisis situations before making a final decision.

“Today you will say that Babar is not well because you see the current situation. But the same captain made Pakistan the number one team six months ago. "If someone makes a zero, 99% of people will say we should drop him and support an ordinary player who scores a century and say, he is the next superstar," Kapil was quoted.

“So don’t discount current performance. Look at how he approached the game, how he plays in difficult situations, that's what a player should be judged on, not one or two low scores," he added.

However, reports suggest that Babar is likely to be sacked as Pakistan captain in the coming days. Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi are currently favorites to replace him.

What is noteworthy is that Shaheen has an outstanding record as captain in the Pakistan Super League while Rizwan has also done a good job. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether Babar will be released from all three formats of the game or just the ODIs.

Next, the team travels to Australia to play a three-match Test series and then travels to New Zealand to play a five-match T20I series. Therefore, much more will come to light in the next few days.