"Bring back Afridi - Solve captaincy problem"
With time such statements are increasing. I failed to understand why people believe that Afridi is the only solution to Pakistan cricket. Actually the problems of Pakistan cricket are a lot bigger than just captaincy. Every cricket board has two roles to play a) Administrative affairs b) Development of cricket in the country. Ejaz Butt and company has failed to bring improvement in any of these areas.
The chairman of cricket boards are not supposed to make cricketing decision. Rather, he should gather a group of cricketing-intellects around him which ensures the smooth running of the cricketing affairs in the country. In our case, we didn't see many strong brains around Ejaz Butt - he appointed Javed Miandad but he was an employee with high perks and very little power.
Bringing back Shahid Afridi will do nothing - reinstating him as a captain will be even bigger disaster. In past we have seen a lot of ego clashes and personality conflicts between local coaches and national captain and players. I am not a big fan Bob Woolmer but one thing to appreciate about him is that the team was united - Inzi, Younis, Yousuf were very much happy with Bob. And at times it really mattered.
Waqar Younis has failed to make any major development in the side ever since he has taken coaching job - his spat with Afridi has further spoiled his image. Also, Waqar failed miserably when he was appointed as a captain in his playing days so we cannot expect him to groom a young captain. One thing to note down here is that coach's job is not only to maintain harmony or work on the flaws of players. Its more of a think tank; a long term plan for which he needs to have a vision. 'Where the team stands in next two years' should be the objective of every good coach.
I am very much impressed with what Andy Flower has done to English Cricket Team. Full credit to cricket board for appointing him as the English cricket team's director. This is one thing I want to see in our cricket - the term coaches are often misleading and the role of manager is already defined. They need to have a team director or team mentor instead of a coach because the coach has a lot more responsibility than just coaching player's techniques.
If you ASK ME who should PCB approach for the job of Team Director? I would say Steve Waugh. One of the most successful captain, a very strong headed determined cricketer, excellent test batsman and a very disciplined person. Waugh is a complete cricketer he has seen the good times and the bad times - he led the team from front and was always known for his bravery. Alongside him bring back Aaquib Javed as an assistant coach who I feel was doing a great job for Cricket Pakistan.
Having a mentor like Steve Waugh - the captaincy problem will automatically be gone. I am greatly impressed with Wahab Riaz and I feel that if any youngster deserve a chance to lead the side it's him. He is responsible and attacking. It will be then Steve Waugh's duty to transform him into an excellent leader. I always support a bowling captain for Pakistan instead of batting one because Pakistanis always produce a lot better bowlers than batsmen. So if your player is among the best - give him a go; don't worry about injuries. Also, two of the most successful captains for Pakistan in past 3 decades were bowlers (Imran Khan and Wasim Akram).
Change must come from the top in order to bring any sort of improvement in Cricket Pakistan. Waqar Younis resigned from coaching role last evening but I have no doubts that his successor will bring no good to Pakistan, either. Primarily because people like Ejaz Butt lacks vision and doesn't understand the nature of cricket in Pakistan.
Another important question is that if Ejaz Butt decides to leave - who will succeed him? The patron-in-chief is not competent to select a suitable head for PCB. Will it be taken over by some politician like Ejaz Ahmed Jakhrani or some party supporting ex-cricketer? For sure if PML-N wins the next election, Aamir Sohail will be awarded with the highest rank of cricketing affairs in Pakistan.
Interestingly, if we talk about merit - we are not open with too many options there as well. People often talk about Majid Khan and Arif Abbasi as suitable candidates but the little that I have followed Arif Abbasi - I really don't think he deserves to be on the top rank. As far as Majid Khan is concerned; although his little tenure as the CEO of PCB back in 1997 was a reasonable one but I guess the major reason for getting a lot of support is due to the fact that he is strongly recommended by his cousin and Pakistan's world cup winning captain Imran Khan.
Personally, I don't see any reason why the chairman should be a test cricketer; I think it is more important that he should be someone from regional cricket association. Dr. Asghar Ali Shah is a well known regional cricket administrator and has won several awards for his services to Cricket Pakistan but in past he too have made some stupid remarks after coming on national media. However, according to me he is the most suitable candidate for the post of chairman.
Lastly, although ICC has given a two-year deadline to all the cricket boards to ensure zero-political interference in any cricket boards but looking at the culture we've had in past I don't see things in Pakistan will move the way ICC wants.
Steve Waugh the man of steel definitely most welcome influence if that can happen. Stephen Fleming is another one I feel has good rapporteur to make us a champion team. The words on Aaqib Javed has been good but Moin Khan is my man if we looking domestically. Asghar Ali Shah lost all respect for me when he stole the Pakistani flag in the Asian games for his moment of glory. The thing about our test cricketers is the grooming they get. Most are not well educated and in the Pakistani team you can seldom survive without forming political affiliations whilst it is the only source of income they can rely on. Its defined how they go about thing. Javed is probably the coach with the best understanding of the Pakistan team but why should he leave his fat cheque for which he needs to do nothing. a little cheque to sarfraz and qadir and suddenly all is well.Just pointing to the small mentality. People at PCB need to come from associations rather than political nepotism like the practice globally.
ReplyDeleteAfridi should never have been captain period. An irresponsible batsman and a ball biter. From a character point of view even the quitting after 1st test show a lack of captaincy material. Wahab Riaz? We need to have him playing in Zim! that was a shocking call to rest him. Hafeez is quoted as a professor so if he becomes a more dependable batsman then maybe he should be the man at the helm.
I agree with you on two points - Stephen Fleming and Asghar Ali Shah's flag stealing incident (thanks for reminding that incident, I completely forgot). But you see he is someone who has been doing reasonably well for Karachi City Cricket Association. He understands cricket a lot more than he understood the Asian Games. He was never fit to be the mentor for the Pakistan team at Asian Games. I am not saying that he's the best all I am saying is that he is the most suitable person to be in-charge at the moment.
ReplyDeleteAaquib has been doing coaching for quite sometime now and cricketers who have worked him regards him very highly.
Afridi was the need of the hour - world cup was right on corner and Pakistan had nobody to lead the side then. He did reasonably well but again he lacks character.
A lot of people are in favor of Hafeez but he hasn't risen to the occasions. He hasn't solved openers problem so far - he cemented his place in the side by becoming a utility player but no improvement in his batting. He needs to a lot better to be known as the real professor.
Dr. Shah has done fantastic work but Asian games gave him the limelight and he wanted to glisten!!!I think that was very cheap on his part and sets him back in my eyes even for a short, near term role.
ReplyDeleteI heard some news report where they said Imran Khan backed him. With Moin Khan, he was coaching the (fixed) badhshahs but improved Sarfraz as PIA coach and his PK captaincy was good in my view. He talks sense. so a higher profile for me. I don't mind Aaqib if that happens. Just one last word on Waqar in that he lost the beard as soon as he took over PK team :P
We have been cultivating irresponsibility and Afridi is a prime example. He was the need like you said but he was expendable for a decade and that a pretty long horizon for an international player to actually come good.
I agree on Hafeez and like I said "dependable batsmanship" before you offer him captaincy. His utility has added to the team but his batting can be far more a force in winning us games.
I totally agree with both of you. Lack of leadership is the main problem.I always support foreign coach for Pakistan as its performance under foreign coach has been better than under local coach. At least foreign coach would bring a positive approach towards the game which is severely lacking in Pak team and Steve Waugh would be ideal. Pak must rely on a batting coach that would help them produce better results.
ReplyDeleteWahab Riaz and M.Hafeez are good options for captaincy but i would select Wahab Riaz in the team according to pitch and ground conditions because there is lot of competition in fast bowling and he cant be selected in each match Pak plays.