Pakistan seem destined to repeat past mistakes as their decision to sack Sarfaraz from team captaincy raises more questions than answers…
Just a fortnight before the Pakistani squad was scheduled to depart for their tour of Australia – and just a few days after their humiliating whitewash at home to Sri Lanka – Sarfaraz Ahmed was stripped of team captaincy by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Not only was he removed from the role in all three formats, he was also dropped from the line-up altogether.
A lot has been said, with the nation divided and opinions floating around. Some feel the decision to oust Sarfaraz was justified, while others starkly oppose it. Before we go further, it’s important to clarify that this piece doesn’t intend to engage in any sort of sociopolitical debate, but rather hopes to highlight how Pakistan’s current situation is eerily similar to moments from the past: the same moments that prevented it from keeping pace with the modern game.
✅ 2017 Champions Trophy
✅ A record 11 consecutive T20I series winsBut his recent form with the bat results in Sarfaraz Ahmed being dropped from 🇵🇰's Test and T20I squads https://t.co/gOGpd9ZG4p pic.twitter.com/75DaaiHmAW
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) October 18, 2019
Why Azhar Ali?
First, the question arises: if Sarfaraz did deserve to lose his Test captaincy, was Azhar Ali the best replacement available for Pakistan? There’s absolutely no hiding the wicketkeeper’s subpar form in the format – especially with the bat. However, his deputy since 2017 had been Asad Shafiq as Azhar chose to resign from vice-captaincy to work on his batting. Since then, the trio have played 11 Tests each, averaging the following:
- Asad Shafiq: 35
- Azhar Ali: 25
- Sarfaraz Ahmed: 24
During Pakistan’s last Test series in January, Azhar’s numbers worsened. Against South Africa, the trifecta of batsmen averaged:
- Asad Shafiq: 31
- Sarfaraz Ahmed: 18
- Azhar Ali: 9
This raises valid question about why Azhar is being promoted ahead of Asad when his individual performances have been far from convincing. If one concedes that Sarfaraz deserved the sack based on his personal struggles, is the decision to appoint Azhar not questionable? The entire conundrum is much too similar to Azhar’s initial stint as captain of the ODI team – when he was brought in after the 2015 Cricket World Cup instead of Sarfaraz, who seemed the obvious candidate to replace Misbah-ul-Haq.
The seventh episode of the weekly PCB Podcast includes:@AzharAli_ and @babarazam258 reactions after being named Test and T20I captains, respectively
🎧 https://t.co/L47fv0CyCZ pic.twitter.com/x6MoNsuT6T
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 18, 2019
Azhar Ali wasn’t even part of the squad at the time, but was allowed to skip the queue at the expense of others. Even so, he was removed from the position just a couple of years later, with Pakistan languishing in 9th place in the ICC ODI rankings. In fact, the team was on the verge of missing out on automatic qualification for both the World Cup and the Champions Trophy. His replacement, Sarfaraz Ahmed, ensured Pakistan participated in both tournaments and even emerged victorious at the Champions Trophy in June 2017.
It’s fair to say that Azhar’s recent Test showings don’t warrant captaincy – and his numbers as captain tend to worsen, if anything. Not only was his ODI tenure a failure, he laid the foundations for Lahore Qalandars’ disastrous record in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), captaining them to last place in 2016. PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani reasserted his support for Sarfaraz as Test captain in April 2019, a month before the World Cup. The team hasn’t played a Test match since that statement was made – but changes have been made nonetheless. Keeping all that in mind, why has Azhar been favoured?
5669 Test match runs ✅
15 Test centuries ✅
Highest Test score of 302* ✅Happy birthday @AzharAli_! pic.twitter.com/bp8qJ8if9Q
— ICC (@ICC) February 19, 2019
Why Babar Azam?
While Babar Azam is undoubtedly Pakistan’s best batsman, is Bobby the best choice to replace Sarfaraz Ahmed? When it comes to the T20 format, Sarfaraz’s removal from captaincy is genuinely baffling. Under his tutelage, Pakistan became the top ranked side in the world – winning 11 out of a possible 13 bilateral series. His credentials are strengthened by his performances in the PSL, with the wicketkeeper-batsman finishing in the Top 3 every season and winning the most recent edition with the Quetta Gladiators.
Moreover, Sarfaraz’s replacement, Babar Azam, has accumulated very little experience as captain. Most recently, Babar led a star-studded Central Punjab side to the bottom of the National T20 Cup table. His team won just one match despite having arguably the strongest side in the tournament – with the likes of Ahmed Shehzad, Faheem Ashraf, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Saad Nasim, and Waqas Maqsood adding to Babar’s own brilliance. The Central Punjab team also boasted recent Pakistan call-ups Nasim Shah and Usman Qadir, which further reinforces doubts over Babar’s suitability for the role.
💬 Babar Azam wants to learn from the best https://t.co/piEx0ZB7aI pic.twitter.com/zameOBcJCI
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) October 25, 2019
A 17 year-old Babar Azam also led one of Pakistan’s strongest-ever U19 squads to 8th place in the 2012 ICC U19 World Cup. All this fails to justify why Sarfaraz, Pakistan’s most successful T20 captain ever, was expelled from the team after one bad series and just a year before the T20 World Cup. To make matters worse, Babar shouldn’t have been next in line either – with Imad Wasim the more experienced candidate. In fact, in post-2015 Azhar Ali fashion, Mohammad Rizwan was made Babar’s deputy despite averaging 16 at a strike-rate of 100 in 13 T20Is and not having played in the format for Pakistan since February.
Rizwan barely got a look in when Sarfaraz was captaining Pakistan, and understandably so. Not only are Rizwan’s T20 statistics inferior to those of his former skipper, it’s difficult to find a place for him in the side with such mediocre numbers. Ironically, Imad Wasim captains both Babar and Rizwan for the Karachi Kings in the PSL, and also leads Northern Punjab, which played the final of the National T20 Cup against Balochistan. Babar’s Central Punjab finished last, and Rizwan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa barely qualified for the semi-final.
A brilliant hundred for Mohammad Rizwan, his first in international cricket!
His stellar knock has helped Pakistan post 284/7 v Australia. Will it be enough to set up a series-levelling win?#PAKvAUS LIVE 👇https://t.co/7hZcVUlmoC pic.twitter.com/ru4mdKurqZ
— ICC (@ICC) March 24, 2019
Why the old guard?
Misbah-ul-Haq was a member of the committee that decided to sack Mickey Arthur as coach of the national team. His subsequent appointment as head coach-cum-chief selector screams conflict of interest. Misbah’s team selection also contributed heavily to Pakistan’s drubbing at the hands of Sri Lanka, and Sarfaraz looks like the scapegoat for a man who’s seemingly lost a crucial part of what made him so admirable as a player: his unflinching ability to keep calm in the face of media scrutiny – as evidenced by his comments below.
Waqar Younis, on the other hand, is reminiscent of the girlfriend who’s broken up with you on several occasions – leaving you distraught every time. This is Waqar’s fourth stint in the Pakistan set-up (in 12 years) and he seems to follow a path of destruction, cursing his colleagues upon exiting and leaving the team in disarray. Why does the PCB keep going back to him when the likes of Abdul Rehman and Mohammad Masroor are famed for fostering team spirit within the domestic circuit? This deserves an inquest as much as anything else. However, one can still hope these changes bring success to the national team – even amidst signs that previous failures could repeat themselves.
Question: "What's changed in these 10 days since you took over?
Misbah "I've come in & I've made the right-handed players become left-handed & made the left-handed bowlers bowl with their right hands. That's all that I can think, so right now I'm trying to figure it out"#PakvSL
— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) October 9, 2019