Following the team's heavy defeat to India in the World Cup, former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has urged the current Pakistani skipper Babar Azam to step down from captaincy and focus more on his batting.

Pakistan got outplayed by India in their much anticipated clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14, losing the match by seven wickets.

Babar and Co have been at the receiving end of a lot of flak from former Pakistan players since that defeat.

Malik is one of those disgruntled former players and has called for the resignation of Babar from captaincy.

"I have already said this in previous interviews that Babar should leave captaincy, it is just my opinion but there's a lot of homework behind it. Babar, as a player, can do wonders for himself as well as the team," Malik said on A-Sports.

Babar, who scored a half-century against India in that game, is currently the No.1 ranked batsman in ODIs. 

Malik feels that Pakistan can benefit more from Babar as a batsman than a leader.

"I think that Babar, as a leader, doesn't think out of the box. One shouldn't mix his leadership with his batting skills as they both are different. He has been a captain for a long time now, but he hasn't been able to improve himself," the 41-year-old said.

Malik proposed pacer Shaheen Afridi as a probable replacement for Babar.

"Shaheen Afridi should become captain in white ball cricket in case Babar Azam resigns. He has done an attacking captaincy for Lahore Qalandars," he concluded.