Babar Azam is the current Pakistan cricket captain across all three formats. The opening batsman was appointed Pakistan’s captain on November 10, 2020, after a string of brilliant performances.
Since Pakistan was registered as an official member of the Imperial Cricket Conference (now the International Cricket Council) on July 28, 1953, the cricketing nation has seen some of cricket world’s most enigmatic captains over the decades. Since Abdul Hafeez Kardar became the first Pakistan cricket captain at the professional level in 1952, the nation has seen stalwarts like Imran Khan and Younis Khan leading the side over the years.
We list below all the 34 skippers that have led the team since 1952.
Pakistan cricket captain (Full list): By most number of wins
| Name | Matches | Matches | Won | Lost | Draw |
| 1 | Misbah ul Haq | 56 | 26 | 19 | 11 |
| 2 | Imran Khan | 48 | 14 | 8 | 26 |
| 3 | Javid Miandad | 34 | 14 | 6 | 14 |
| 4 | Inzamam ul Haq | 31 | 11 | 11 | 9 |
| 5 | Wasim Akram | 25 | 12 | 8 | 5 |
| 6 | Abdul Hafeez Kardar | 23 | 6 | 6 | 11 |
| 7 | Mushtaq Muhammad | 19 | 8 | 4 | 7 |
| 8 | Intikhab Alam | 17 | 1 | 5 | 11 |
| 9 | Waqar Younis | 17 | 10 | 7 | 0 |
| 10 | Zaheer Abbas | 14 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
| 11 | Sarfraz Ahmad | 13 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
| 12 | Moin Khan | 13 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| 13 | Saleem Malik | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| 14 | Hanif Muhammad | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 15 | Babar Azam | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 |
| 16 | Fazal Mehmood | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 17 | Muhammad Yousuf | 9 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 18 | Younis Khan | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 19 | Azhar Ali | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| 20 | Saeed Anwar | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| 21 | Wasim Bari | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| 22 | Asif Iqbal | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 23 | Aamir Sohail | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 24 | Rashid Latif | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 25 | Javed Burki | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 26 | Rameez Raja | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 27 | Salman Butt | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 28 | Imtiaz Ahmad | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 29 | Saeed Ahmed | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 30 | Majid Khan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 31 | Shoaib Malik | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 32 | Muhammad Rizwan | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 33 | Shahid Afridi | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 34 | Mohammad Hafeez | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Misbah-ul-Haq
Though Misbah-ul-Haq never led the Pakistan cricket team to an ICC World Cup, he was a prominent part of Pakistan’s T20 World Cup win in 2009. Apart from that, the Men in Green have also enjoyed the highest winning percentage under Misbah’s captaincy. He has captained Pakistan in 56 Test matches, with the side winning 26 matches and losing 19 out of them. Misbah-ul-Haq is also the cricketer to score the fastest Test century.
Imran Khan
The best cricket player to ever captain the Pakistan team, it was under Imran Khan’s leadership that the team’s greatest successes came in the form of the 1992 ICC ODI World Cup. It was under Imran Khan’s captaincy that Pakistan got immense success away from home in the overseas conditions of the West Indies, Australia, and other non-Asian countries. For a cricketing country like Pakistan, where numerous captains have been removed for unprofessional behaviour, Imran Khan’s stature holds great value to this team’s history.
Pakistan national cricket captains full list: Test cricket
| Number | Player | Tenure | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn |
| 1 | Abdul Hafeez Kardar | 1952 – 58 | 23 | 6 | 6 | 11 |
| 2 | Fazal Mahmood | 1958 – 61 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | Imtiaz Ahmed | 1959 – 62 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | Javed Burki | 1962 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 5 | Hanif Mohammad | 1964 – 67 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 6 | Saeed Ahmed | 1968 – 69 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | Intikhab Alam | 1969 – 75 | 17 | 1 | 5 | 11 |
| 8 | Majid Khan | 1972 – 73 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 9 | Mushtaq Mohammad | 1976 – 79 | 19 | 8 | 4 | 7 |
| 10 | Wasim Bari | 1977 – 78 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 11 | Asif Iqbal | 1979 – 80 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 12 | Javed Miandad | 1979 – 93 | 34 | 14 | 6 | 14 |
| 13 | Imran Khan | 1982 – 92 | 48 | 14 | 8 | 26 |
| 14 | Zaheer Abbas | 1983 – 85 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
| 15 | Wasim Akram | 1992 – 00 | 25 | 12 | 8 | 5 |
| 16 | Waqar Younis | 1993 – 03 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 0 |
| 17 | Saleem Malik | 1993 – 95 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| 18 | Rameez Raja | 1995 – 97 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 19 | Saeed Anwar | 1996 – 00 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| 20 | Aamer Sohail | 1997 – 99 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 21 | Rashid Latif | 1997 – 04 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 22 | Moin Khan | 1997 – 01 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| 23 | Inzamam-ul-Haq | 2000 – 07 | 31 | 11 | 11 | 9 |
| 24 | Mohammad Yousuf | 2003 – 10 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 25 | Younus Khan | 2004 – 09 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 26 | Shoaib Malik | 2007 – 08 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 27 | Shahid Afridi | 2009 – 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 28 | Salman Butt | 2009 -10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 29 | Misbah-ul-Haq | 2011 – 14 | 56 | 26 | 19 | 11 |
| 30 | Mohammad Hafeez | 2012 -13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 31 | Azhar Ali | 2016 – 20 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| 32 | Sarfraz Ahmed | 2017 – 19 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
| 33 | Mohammad Rizwan | 2020 – 21 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 34 | Babar Azam | 2020 – |
Javed Miandad
Though the Pakistan cricket team’s golden era came after Javed Miandad left the captaincy for Imran Khan to take over, Miandad was the first captain since Abdul Hafeez Kardar to lead the Pakistan Test team in over 20 matches. Pakistan had won 14 matches out of the 34 games played under Miandad.
Pakistani national cricket captains list in ODI cricket
| Number | Player | Tenure | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn |
| 1 | Intikhab Alam | 1972 – 74 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | Asif Iqbal | 1975 – 79 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | Majid Khan | 1975 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | Mushtaq Mohammad | 1976 – 79 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | Wasim Bari | 1977 – 78 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 6 | Javed Miandad | 1980 – 93 | 62 | 26 | 33 | 1 |
| 7 | Zaheer Abbas | 1981 – 85 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 0 |
| 8 | Imran Khan | 1982 – 92 | 139 | 75 | 59 | 1 |
| 9 | Sarfraz Nawaz | 1983 – 84 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | Abdul Qadir | 1987 – 89 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 11 | Saleem Malik | 1992 – 95 | 34 | 21 | 11 | 2 |
| 12 | Rameez Raja | 1992 – 97 | 22 | 7 | 13 | 0 |
| 13 | Wasim Akram | 1992 – 00 | 109 | 66 | 41 | 2 |
| 14 | Waqar Younis | 1993 – 94 | 62 | 37 | 23 | 0 |
| 15 | Moin Khan | 1994 – 01 | 34 | 20 | 14 | 0 |
| 16 | Saeed Anwar | 1994 – 00 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| 17 | Aamer Sohail | 1995 – 99 | 22 | 9 | 12 | 0 |
| 18 | Rashid Latif | 1997 – 2003 | 25 | 13 | 12 | 0 |
| 19 | Inzamam-ul-Haq | 2002 – 07 | 87 | 51 | 33 | 0 |
| 20 | Mohammad Yousuf | 2003 – 10 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 21 | Younis Khan | 2005 – 09 | 21 | 8 | 13 | 0 |
| 22 | Abdul Razzaq | 2006 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 23 | Shoaib Malik | 2007 – 19 | 41 | 25 | 16 | 0 |
| 24 | Misbah-ul-Haq | 2008 – 15 | 87 | 45 | 39 | 2 |
| 25 | Shahid Afridi | 2009 – 14 | 38 | 19 | 18 | 0 |
| 26 | Azhar Ali | 2015 – 17 | 29 | 12 | 16 | 0 |
| 27 | Sarfraz Ahmed | 2015 – 19 | 50 | 27 | 20 | 0 |
| 28 | Mohammad Hafeez | 2017 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 29 | Imad Wasim | 2019 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 30 | Babar Azam | 2020 – |
Sarfraz Ahmed
The recent important victory for Pakistan had come against archrivals India in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy final, where Pakistan had beaten the Virat Kohli-led side in the final to lift the third ICC trophy under the captaincy of Sarfaraz Ahmed. Since then, several players from the team have retired with the new generation of Babar Azam and Co. taking over and carrying the legacy in a much better way.
Pakistan cricket captain (full list) in T20Is
| Number | Player | Tenure | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn |
| 1 | Inzamam-ul-Haq | 2006 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Younis Khan | 2007 – 2009 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| 3 | Shoaib Malik | 2007 – 2019 | 20 | 13 | 6 | 1 |
| 4 | Misbah-ul-Haq | 2011 – 2012 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | Shahid Afridi | 2009 – 2016 | 43 | 19 | 23 | 1 |
| 6 | Mohammad Hafeez | 2012 – 2014 | 29 | 17 | 11 | 1 |
| 7 | Sarfraz Ahmed | 2016 – 20 | 37 | 29 | 8 | 0 |
| 8 | Babar Azam | 2019 – | 41 | 26 | 10 | 0 |
| 9 | Shadab Khan | 2020 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Babar Azam
Though Pakistan are yet to win any major ICC title under young Babar Azam’s captaincy, he has turned a corner by beating India and registering the Men in Green’s first victory over the Men in Blue in a World Cup game. It happened during the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup where Pakistan defeated India by 10 wickets.
FAQs
Who was captain of pakistan cricket team in 2020?
Babar Azam has been the captain of Pakistan Cricket team in 2020.
who was the most successful odi captain of pakistan?
Imran Khan is the most successful ODI captain of Pakistan. They won the 1992 ICC ODI World Cup under his captaincy.
Who was pakistan cricket captain In 2021?
Babar Azam was Pakistan cricket captain in 2021. He has been Pakistan’s captain across all three formats since getting appointed in November 2020.
Who is pakistan cricket captain in 2022?
Babar Azam is the Pakistan cricket captain in 2022 across all three formats.
.){kind=link}