Former South Africa captain AB De Villiers has said that Pakistan cricket was lacking character and fight and needed a group of players to show the others the way in a bid to get back on track.

The 42-year-old also felt Pakistan cricket had been affected by mismanagement at the top with constant changes, and hoped that Babar Azam would get a longer run as captain, having returned to the helm recently.

“I always felt that Test cricket is a test of your character. And that’s maybe what Pakistan is lacking at the moment: a bit of character, a bit of fight, and an individual leadership group of four or five players who decide together, “You know what? Let’s be the leaders here and show the guys. Let’s be the example. Let’s show the youngsters what it takes to win Test matches, or ODIs, or T20s,” De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

“And maybe that is the area that they’re lacking. But definitely also a bit of mismanagement from the top, lots of chopping, changing, lots of change of leadership. Babar (Azam) back now, so hopefully he gets an extended run and stays fit and starts scoring runs again, like we all know he can, and for his fellow teammates to start following that lead,” he added.

The former right-hander felt Pakistan cricketers did not work hard enough and the batsmen especially succumbed to a lot of soft wickets.

“I don’t often, or these days currently, see a lot of Pakistan players individually being prepared to put the extra hard yards in there. They had a tour to England now, and especially with a batting unit, not enough — what’s the word? — guts, fight. It doesn’t always have to be pretty. And lots of soft wickets,” he said.

“And that’s what it comes down to. It’s a decision that you make. I’m new in Test cricket; I’m not always going to be flamboyant and look elegant out there. It’s sometimes ugly and terribly difficult to watch. And if I played for my ego, I probably would have been a different player. So it was always, for me, about how much character can I show out here today. It always felt like a threat on my character from the opposition, and that’s the way I decided to play the situation,” he added.

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Pakistan cricket recently hit its nadir when they lost the second Test to England by Lord’s by 194 runs after a loss at Headingley by an innings and 103 runs. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) responded to the twin defeats by shipping back seven players from the squad and replacing them with seven others (including five uncapped players). PCB also banished their head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and his assistant Umar Gul.

Muhammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Khurram Shahzad, Aamir Jamal and Muhammad Awais Jafar were sent home to Pakistan with one final Test still left in the tour. Of these seven, the latter two did not play in any game but were still penalised. In their place, Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal, who have played for Pakistan before, and Arafat Minhas, Mohammed Imran Jr, Said Baig, Mohammad Imran and Razaullah were called up.