Jul29

Misbah likely to take over T20 captaincy

by wasim on July 29th, 2009 at 5:35 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

According to a report published in Daily Nation Misbah Ul Haq  is likely to take over T20 captaincy. 

The Pakistan Cricket Board is considering making vice captain Misbah ul Haq captain of the national T20 team in place of Younis Khan who has decided to retire from the format.
Younis announced his retirement from the T20 cricket after the Pakistan team won the second edition of the World Championship last month In England. And even after several attempts from different quarters, Younis did not show any plans to revert his decision.
The PCB is taking the decision, as reports suggest, probably to end grouping in the team which is believed to have affected team performance during the Sri Lanka tour.
Even some former cricketers have suggested sacking of senior players like Shoaib Malik, Misbahul Haq and Kamran Akmal, which the reports suggested are having differences with the captain and the reports of argument between Misbah and Younis during the T20 World Cup is being taken as the main reason behind the grouping.

In my opinion if Misbah is appointed the captain of the T20 team the rifts in the national team will further widen, the whole world knows that Afridi is dying to become the captain of the national team since Inzamam retired, he led a successful rebellion against Malik’s captaincy, and ever since Younis Khan announced his retirement from T20 cricket he has been very vocal about his desire to lead Pakistan in this format.

In the shorter version of the game Afridi as a bowler has been the most valuable player for Pakistan for quite some time now, his performance in the T20 WC makes him a deserving candidate.

Afridi is the most successful captain on the domestic scene after Shoaib Malik and I think if he is not given the captaincy it might dishearten him and might affect his performance.

PCB is considering Misbah for the Job because he is the vice Captain of Pakistan team and has been the planned successor to this leadership role. But PCB will never be able to justify this move as Misbah’s recent form doesn’t even justify his place in the team.

There is a rumour that the dip in form of Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik and Misbah Ul haq in recent matches is just because Younis Khan proposed the name of Afridi as his successor during the T20 world cup. Such behavior by players is not new unfortunately it has been a part of our team’s culture.

Afridi, Younis and Shaoib Akhtar under performed in several key matches under Malik due to which Malik’s captaincy got criticized and ultimately he had to step down. PCB has a history of bending backwards in front of player power and also has a history of rewarding under performance.

Younis Khan and Afridi averaged a mere 9.33 and 7 in the three match Odi series against Sri Lanka which Pakistan lost and after which Malik was removed as a captain.

PCB was wrong back then and is about commit the same mistake all over again, they should not reward under performance and should not bend backwards in front of player’s power in fact they should deal with players who play dirty politics in the team with an iron hand.

I think right now Afridi is not only the popular choice but also deserves it because of his consistent bowling performance. Misbah has led Pakistan in one T20 game against Australia and one Odi game against India both games were won by Pakistan but his domestic record as a captain is nothing as compared to Malik or Afridi.

PCB is stuck in a difficult situation and the only way out is to punish those players who form groups in the team. I think now when the bench is quite strong it’s time for PCB to make some tough decisions.