“The Australia tour is an important one. Babar Azam should lead the team in that tour,” he told media persons in Karachi on Monday.

However, Afridi was of the view that the Pakistani skipper could not perform as was expected of him during the World Cup, saying that there were some issues in his leadership.

On the team’s performance in the World Cup, he said that he had high expectations from the team as the team had better players while the conditions in India were also better.

“However, we could not perform. You cannot win if you make so many mistakes in such tournaments. Those teams who played better are at the top,” Afridi added.

He also urged for the development of cricket on the grassroots level.

Read: People think I am against Babar Azam: Shoaib Malik

Azam’s leadership role became the talking point during the World Cup when Pakistan lost five out of their nine games.

The Pakistani skipper made 320 runs at the World Cup with four fifties at an average of 40 and remains the world’s second highest-ranked batsman. He has almost 13,000 runs in all international cricket.

However, it was his captaincy in India which was questioned when he faced accusations of lacking aggression in field settings.