Does Afridi deserves to be retained as captain?
on January 17th, 2011 at 6:03 pm
PCB has announced Pakistan’s squad for the six match Odi series against New Zealand and the 30 probables for the world cup 2011. As usual the mindless public outcry has already begun. The jobless Ex-cricketers and Ex officials of PCB are issuing scathing statements aganist PCB and the selection committee over the decision to ignore Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf and over the appointment of Misbah Ul Haq as the Vice captain of the Odi team, the jingoistic media as usual is trying it’s best to protect Afridi and his captaincy. It’s a sad situation nobody seems to be sincere with Pakistan cricket, the think tank of Pakistan cricket is highly opportunistic and their statements only pressurize the board and add confusion in the minds of the fans and the decision makers.
The same people were criticizing the board for not axing Malik a year ago for creating cliques in the team and for under performance, but now when the selectors have dumped him, they want him back. In last 20 Odi’s Malik has only one score above 40, he has consistently failed, his domestic performance is nothing new he always performs well in the domestic tournaments especially when the key players are on international tours. His form and seniority are irrelevant here, the main problem is that he hasn’t been able to satisfy the integrity committee about the source of a deposit of 90,000 pounds in one of his bank accounts, which clearly puts him under investigation and that’s the main reason for ignoring him, everybody knows about this but would still try to use this situation to criticize the selection committee and the Board.
The second case is of Mohammad Yousaf, he was under investigation for the Sydney test but was later on cleared. In last 30 Odi’s he has only 3 scores above 50. There is definitely no question about the class of Yousaf but his recent performance has not been impressive and to be very honest most of his recent innings have been suspicious as he gets on to a good start and soon after he crosses 20′s or 30′s he throws away his wicket to a loose shot. He hasn’t been able to win matches for us as consistently as a player of his stature should have done. His fielding has always been a liability and on top of that he is currently unfit.
In India and Srilanka Pakistan would definitely be needing players who can play spin better, and both Malik and Yousaf are perhaps the best players of spin in Pakistan, their absence will certainly hurt Pakistan’s chances but only on paper as in reality if these players were going to perform the way they have done in their last 20 matches then Pakistan is better off with Misbah and Asad Shafiq.
The absence of these two players would only hurt Pakistan on paper on the field Asad and Misbah will perform better than these two.
The third case is of Captaincy, no captain has been announced for the world cup as of yet, Afridi has failed as a captain he has lost most of the Odi and T20 series Pakistan played under him his win loss ratio in Odis is 8: 15 and in t20′s it is 8 : 18. There is no plan in his leadership, the team plays instinctively and as a result we only win due to individual performances on many occasions his brainless aggression while batting was the main reason for our loss. Through out his 15 years of international career the sense of responsibility, match awareness, and the ability to read the situation and change gears accordingly has been missing, his fans have given him a license to be stupid and that is harming Pakistan cricket. His fans in his defense give an argument that he is just a bowler who can bat but that is not true he plays as an all rounder and does not bat according to his potential, his bowling performance has also declined which diminishes his value as a player in the team.
In a tournament like World cup every team needs a strong leader who can lead by example, handle difficult situations and can play according to the situation, Afridi lack in all these departments.
PCB is fully justified in contemplating a change of leadership in the team for the world cup, I wonder why there is so much criticism about Misbah’s nomination as a vice captain and a potential candidate for ODi captaincy, he is averaging 114 as a captain and has led a much weaker team than Afridi and produced better results, the team is performing like a team under him and average players are churning up better performance and on every occasion in the last two test series when the team was in trouble Misbah pulled it out of trouble because he batted responsibly and according to the situation.
In my opinion Pakistan stands no chance in the world cup under Afridi unless he changes his game drastically but that it is almost impossible for him to shed the school boy brand of cricket and start playing maturely, nothing predicts behavior like behavior. Pakistan would have won against England and SA had Afridi shown just a little bit of responsibility.
Misbah or Younis are the best candidates to lead the team in the world cup.
Cricket Pundits are not giving any importance to Pakistan team in the world cup but if the selectors selected the team on merit then Pakistan still has the ability to win the world cup. Everybody is declaring India, England and South Africa as favorites.
I think the race will be between India, Pakistan, SriLanka and South Africa.
Pakistan just lost to England and SA away from home, the result was 3-2 in both series, both losses were marginal and were affected by poor umpiring.This clearly shows Pakistan can beat any team and in home like conditions they will definitely dominate these teams.They have a few grey areas, players like Afridi, Razzaq and Umar Akmal can win matches single handedly but they do not deliver consistently and in the absence of consistency these players more than often cause a collapse. The bowling line still has some teeth but unless Umar Gul, Afridi and Ajmal regain their form of last two years, Pakistan won’t win the world cup they can reach the semis but in order to win the cup these three bowlers will have to be at the top of their form.
The pundits always under estimate SriLanka they have lost only one series last year, they’ve got a good team and will enjoy home advantage.
I still believe that the defending champs have an outside chance, Australia has a good limited overs side but it will all depend on the form of Clarke and Ponting as Micheal Hussey is doubtful for the world cup due to severe injury, their pace attack with the return of Tait and Lee will become quite threatening but they have too many things to fix in the batting department. They will also have to overcome the demoralizing affect of recent defeats. England is a team which is on the rise but they rely heavily on their seamers who prefer home like seaming conditions and will find it extremely hard to adjust in subcontinetal conditions they do have a world class spinner but their recent record in India is miserable.They will also have to adjust from hard bouncy wickets to slow and low wickets of subcontinent.
India has home advantage but they have some serious issues with their bowling they have just named two pacers(Zaheer & Nehra) in their 15 men squad, it would be a blasphemy to call Munaf and Praveen as pacers. But despite their weakness in the bowling department India still will be the team to beat, just because of their batting, home grounds and spinners.
South African players have considerable experience to play in India and at the moment they have a very balanced team, their batting line up is in form their bowling has variety.
Pakistan’s squad for ODI series in NZ:
Pakistan ODI squad: Shahid Afridi (capt), Muhammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal (wk), Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Umer Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umer Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer, Tanveer Ahmed, Ahmed Shehzad
Pakistan’s 30 probables for the World cup 2011:
Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Taufiq Umar, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Naveed Yasin, Kamran Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Salman Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Yasir Arafat, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer, Tanvir Ahmed, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Asad Ali.
Yusuf
If Yk had stayed for another 10 overs we would have won, If Azhar Ali and Asad were not given out even then we would have won the match, both of them were not out. Six decisions in the match went against Pakistan it was a miracle that we were able to draw the test. The way the Kiwis were appealing on everything and the umpires were lifting their fingers on every half decent appeal it was impossible for Misbah to go for victory. You must have noticed he was trying not to use his pads and was blocking everything with his bat because the Kiwis were appealing vociferously for everything even bump catches.
Nikhil
The circumstances surrounding Pakistan cricket at the moment are not normal so we can expect a few abnormalities. PCB is under a lot of pressure from ICC to put an end to player’s power and corruption, right now they are analyzing every match and every series and have dropped players against whom there is no concrete proof only their performance in various matches has been suspicious.
Afridi hasn’t shown any leadership or sense of responsibility from the series in England till now we have lost quite a few matches just because of his lack of responsibility and poor leadership. Before every series he promises something and delivers quite the opposite, this pressure on him is not new the talks of replacing him have been going on for quite some time.
I don’t think that replacing him would make any difference as Pakistan team is used to such changes, the appointment of Misbah as a test captain came from no where but turned out to be a good decision.
The results under Misbah highlight what difference leadership can make on a team. Misbah in the last 4 tests has led from the front in all of them, whereas Afridi’s rashness and lack of match awareness kind of transcends to the whole team when operating under him.
The only loss Pakistan will suffer if they decide to change captain at this stage would be that they will have to drop Afridi altogether from the team.
I do agree with you that sending Waqar a notice for such a benign statement is stupid.
If Hafeez had not lost his cool with southee he could have batted another 10 overs. Southee was doing this to piss hafeez off and as expected hafeez fell in the trap. Started going after every ball. I was really hoping for a win in the second test.
I agree Afridi is not a good captain. He just does not think. I think Younus would be the best but I don’t think the PCB will go for him. Just read that Ijaz Butt is flying to NZ to decide the captain. I cannot believe this incompetent shit is still leading the PCB.
Wasim
I believe for a tournament as important as the World Cup, Pakistan should have declared a captain along with the team. I would go further and say they should have maintained Afridi at the captaincy. You cannot afford to change a captain just a month before the World Cup.
Just read on cricinfo Waqar has been sent a show-cause notice by PCB. I don’t think its the coach’s mistake to comment on this issue. A coach should know his team (including the captain) well in advance in order to prepare for this big tournament.
Regards.
Before leaving for New Zealand, however, Afridi said he was not worried about the position. “I am not worried about the captaincy, it never worries me,” he said. “I have never run after the captaincy in my entire career. It is something for the cricket board to decide. If they feel I am the right man they will appoint me and if they don’t they will make someone else captain.
This must be a joke if there has been a player in Pakistan who has actively pursued for leadership and has used every tactic to get to the position it has been Afridi.
The current problem is not only his personal form and role in the recent losses but also how after every loss he blamed it on fellow players by taking their names in post match interviews, I have never seen him taking some blame or accept his own blemishes.
Pakistan gave up the chase too early and are settling for a draw and a series win, I think they should have gone for the win in last 10 overs they had six wickets in hand. But it seems that Misbah didn’t had confidence in the remaining batsmen and is not willing to risk a series victory. Asad Shafiq just got out again a ray of hope emerges for New Zealand.
So far six decisions have gone against Pakistan in this match probably the worst umpiring I have ever seen in a test match.
114 runs required from 32 overs with 6 wickets in hand this is the second time Younis got out a few balls bfore tea interval, Pakistan can still save the match if Asad Shafiq keeps his nerves in control.
Now Misbah will try to see off the next 10-15 overs and then probably go for attack. The match is even at this stage. One more quick wicket and it will tilt in New Zealands favor and if these two stayed on the wicket for the next 15 overs then the match will tilt in Pakistan’s favor.
We might see a nail biting finish.
Australia squad
Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wk), Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, David Hussey, Cameron White, Tim Paine (wk), Steven Smith, John Hastings, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Doug Bollinger.
Note Micheal Hussey has been replaced by Shaun Marsh.
India Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin
South Africa Squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers (wk), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne van Wyk (wk)
Sri Lanka World Cup squad: Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath.
Zimbabwe World Cup squad: Elton Chigumbura (capt), Regis Chakabva, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Sean Ervine, Gregory Lamb, Shingirai Masakadza, Christopher Mpofu, Raymond Price, Edward Rainsford, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya, Sean Williams
You have included Yousaf in the playing 11 when his name was dropped from the 30 probables, I don’t think he can make a come back.
I THINK WE WILL REACH QUARTER FINALS FROM THERE WE HAVE TO WIN JUST THREE BIG MATCHES AND A LOT WILL DEPEND UPON aKMAL BROTHERS, AFRIDI AND RAZZAQ.
@PCB
Where have you been buddy! Welcome back.
Yousaf has been officially declared unfit after his fitness test apparently he every day was taking one round of the stadium to declare his fitness but after a ;proper fitness test the selectors decided to overlook him, now it can be a genuine fitness problem or his poor domestic form or suspicions regarding his recent performances since the sydney test, we would never know as I said on paper the Malik and Yousaf make the team strong but if we analyse their performance in the last 20 matches they haven’t contributed according to their stature. If Malik failed to give the source of his income of 90000 pounds then the selectors are fully justified to drop him. We don’t need tainted star players the team is already playing better than when these guys were in the team.
As regards Afridi the problem is not a favoritism for Misbah, I would prefer a responsible Afridi over any other player but if he is not going to accept responsibility then he is useless.Nothing will happen if the captain is changed 4 weeks before the WC, in recent past Pakistan team has had several unplanned changes and most of the times they produced better results.
My team for the WC from the 30 man squad:
1. Mohammad Hafeez
2. Kamran Akmal
3. Umar Akmal
4. Younis Khan
5. Mohammad Yousuf
6. Misbah-ul-Haq
7. Shahid Afridi
8. Abdul Razzaq
9. Umar Gul
10. Shoaib Akhtar
11. Saeed Ajmal
Ahmed Shehzad
Nasir Jamshed
Abdul Rehman
Wahab Riaz
I think Shoaib Malik is a very good player. He is probably just entering a batsman’s prime period, and is also a very good fielder and more than handy with the ball. In cricketing terms, he should be in the side bu has been ignored because he could not explain a £90,000 bank transaction in the UK.
Mohammad Yousuf should be in the team. I don’t think there is anything wrong with his fitness. He is fine in the domestic games. There was a similar issue with Intikhab Alam and Yawar Saeed not wanting Shoaib Akhtar in the team for fitness reasons in April/May 2009. Even, when Akhtar passed the fitness test, they still claimed he was unfit. This reminds me of this situation. His batting has been below par recently, but he adds to the batting not by only having the potential to score big but also because of the calmness he brings for Pakistan.
I am impressed by Asad Shafiq in the test matches, but in 10 ODI’s, he has scored 230 runs in 10 innings which is not very good for a specialist batsman. He doesn’t really contribute in terms of bowling and fielding, so I don’t think he should have been picked.
Afridi should remain captain. I think his bowling changes could be a lot better, but changing the entire setup is not a good idea 4 weeks away from the world cup. It is too big a risk for Misbah to be captain.
@ Mudassar
That’s what they will do, I think Wahab will be rested in the first few matches and Sohail Tanvir will play instead. Similarly they will rotate between Asad Shafiq and Umar Akmal.
After the spot fixing scandal they are doing every thing right, at least in the last two series we have seen that the selection was fair and they kept the tainted players away from the team.
Akmal brothers, Afridi and Riaz are still there but nobody has any evidence against them.
They should rotate the players well not damaging team combination in these 6 ODIs and every one should have at least 3 match chance. Test bowlers like Gul and Wahab should also get rest in some of ODIs (3 for each?). Just a perfect series to test your strength. But it need some planning and coaching staff is also as important as captain.
Well if PCB is considering his performance I will be more than happy to acknowledge that but in the back of my mind it is hard to associate such things with PCB just can’t help it.
Currently very excited about 5th day and willing to wake up for that and making tomorrow as miserable day at work hehe so hope they don’t disappoint me and others.
Mudassar
The world cup team has been announced and PCB has retatined the same team as for the NZ Odi series except Tanvir Ahmad who makes way for Sohail Tanvir, the captain has not been announced. I don’t think that PCB is reluctant to make Afridi the captain because of his statements they are doing it because he has played the central role in losing the last two T20 and Odi series and is not doing the job right.
I think the team selected is fair and the best 15 available, now the performance of Afridi and Akmal brothers will hold the key for Pakistan. Also the fitness of our bowlers like Akhtar, Riaz and Razzaq will make the real difference.
These 6 ODIs against New Zealand will tell us (at least fans if not selectors) about the state of the team and Afridi’s captaincy.
As far as selectors or board is concerned I think they are only delaying WC captain name to put some pressure on Afridi to do what they want or at least stop giving those statements against them every now and than otherwise there is less chance that this board and/or selectors are sincere to Pakistan cricket.
Personally I would love to see Younis back as captain he is hopefully getting some form under his belt too now. But this might create some problems in the team even though two main culprits who were against him are out of team (Malik and Yousuf) though Kamran Akmal is one fishy character in his own (Thanks God he is no more a VC).
Misbah will also not be a bad choice as ODI captain if he can get his form together in ODIs too as he did in tests. At his best he is one of math winners and devastating in run chases etc.
Tomorrow is the greatest test of this young test team will they able to challenge 274 runs on 5th day or in case of any hiccups able to save the game?
Can anybody tell me why Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz cut their pace in the first innings, Gul consistently bowled between 127- 130k in the first innings and Wahab was bowling around 130-132k when he can bowl around 140-145k’s.
Gul today cranked up his pace and started bowling around 140k and immediately produced results the ball started reversing at high pace and with in no time he just finished off the Kiwi innings.
My question is why he didn’t bowl at this speed in the first innings.
Riaz had a fever and some problem with the knee due to which he was limping, but today he also bowled a few overs at 145k his normal speed the knee problem and the fever both were gone although he was being on and off the field through out the day.
The wicket had some serious turn for the spinners as Hafeez showed all of us but Rahman kept on bowling flat through out the day and was afraid to give the ball some loop, the field placements were too defensive and the right men were not in right places it was a typical Pakistani day on the field dropped 4-5 catches missed a couple of run outs and allowed the opposition to escape and strengthen its position.
It won’t be easy for Pakistan to chase 275 on the final day, the wicket has some turn and Vettori will cause some serious damage.
Group A
Australia
New Zealand
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Zimbabwe
Canada
Kenya
Group B
Bangladesh
England
India
SouthAfrica
West Indies
Ireland
Netherlands
For the NZ series this would be my team.
Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmad Shehzad, Younis Khan, Misbah Ul Haq, Umar Akmal , Afridi, Razzaq, Umar Gul, Riaz and Shoaib Akhtar.
I would have played Junaid Khan if he was selected for the tour to give rest to Riaz or Gul before the World cup. Pakistan should give, 3 games to Umar Akmal and 3 to Asad Shafiq.
Only 15 will be selected for the world cup out of the thirty probables.
The above eleven selected for the Kiwi series will get selected by default unless someone gets injured or loses form during the Kiwis series. This leaves us with only four players.
Since the world cup is being played in subcontinent that increases the value of spinners, Ajmal and Rehman will get picked that leaves us with two players. The fitness level of Shoaib Akhtar and Razzaq is doubtful so Pakistan will be needing a reserve fast bowler, Aizaz cheema, Junaid Khan, Rana Naveed, Tanveer Ahmed, and Sohail Tanveer are the bowlers Pakistan has in reserves.
The selectors have shown their inclination toward Sohail Tanvir but if he failed against NZ then Pakistan will have to decide between Aizaz Cheema, Rana Naveed and Junaid Khan, I would pick Junaid Khan he can provide Pakistan with that X factor which Aamer gave us.
The last slot will go to a back up batsman, Pakistan cricket fans have a tendency of naming flashy players like Shahzaib and Imran Nazir, we already have three openers, Ahmad Shehzad’s selection will depend on how he performs in NZ. Taufeeq Umar and Asad Shafiq are the only two batsmen which will be in the runnning for this position. With three openers already in the team Pakistan will pick Asad Shafiq.
The final 15:
Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmad Shehzad/Taufeeq Umar, Younis Khan, Misbah Ul Haq, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq , Afridi, Razzaq, Umar Gul, Riaz, Shoaib Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir/Junaid Khan , Rehman and Saeed Ajmal.
Pakistan is placed in a relatively easier group and should qualify for the Quarter finals. Their progress beyond quarterfinal will depend on whom they face in Quarterfinals and how Akmal brothers and Afridi play in big matches.