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Azhar Ali - Test Captaincy Watch

MenInG said:
Chosen the wrong team! So not sure what else he can do now.
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He needs to show courage and tell Misbah to butt out, that he is the captain and he will choose the starting eleven and tactics just like Misbah used to.

Azhar is letting Misbah control him like a puppet. But Misbah is showing the whole cricket world that he has no clue about selection or tactics, just as many of us observed during his playing career.

It’s international cricket. The captain is the boss of the coach.
 
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Blame the guy who handed him over ODI and Test captaincy. He is not captaincy material at all.
 
The ball was swinging so much yet Azhar Ali had just 2 slips in place. Never seen something so ridiculous.
 
Junaids said:
He needs to show courage and tell Misbah to butt out, that he is the captain and he will choose the starting eleven and tactics just like Misbah used to.

Azhar is letting Misbah control him like a puppet. But Misbah is showing the whole cricket world that he has no clue about selection or tactics, just as many of us observed during his playing career.

It’s international cricket. The captain is the boss of the coach.
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Worst captain since Intikhab Alam in the 1960s

Honestly we have had no captain that was as chicken hearted and clue less as this person Yousuf might come close but even he was better.

This guy is like a kitten. He is a disgrace to the Pakistani style of playing cricket
 
Abdullah719 said:
He had a DEEP POINT :facepalm:
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Yeah imagine that: Fresh bowlers, chilling conditions at 12 degrees Celsius, brand new cherry, dense clouds over head, the ball is swinging big, probably the last hour of play, Pakistan are searching for wickets and the captain thinks 2 slips are enough!

Even in an ODI you would see 3 slips given the above conditions but kaptaan here decided to play it safe. I am honestly surprised somebody didn't thump him on the head for this. Misbah was a very conservative captain but having seen enough of him, even he would have had 3 slips in place.
 
Bleedgreen4ever said:
Worst captain since Intikhab Alam in the 1960s

Honestly we have had no captain that was as chicken hearted and clue less as this person Yousuf might come close but even he was better.

This guy is like a kitten. He is a disgrace to the Pakistani style of playing cricket
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You seem to forget Moin khan as captain who was shockingly bad and Azhar is a lot worse.
 
He was never the captain material, just the ideal yes man for Misbah.. the guy doesn’t even merit a place in the test team.. cringeworthy listening to him about improving personal stats , says all about the mentality 🤦🏽*♂️
 
Junaids said:
He needs to show courage and tell Misbah to butt out, that he is the captain and he will choose the starting eleven and tactics just like Misbah used to.

Azhar is letting Misbah control him like a puppet. But Misbah is showing the whole cricket world that he has no clue about selection or tactics, just as many of us observed during his playing career.

It’s international cricket. The captain is the boss of the coach.
Click to expand...

It’s more than likely that a pre-condition for captaincy, and effectively his place in the team, was for Azhar to not question Misbah and do exactly what he was told.

We already know Azhar is a weak person after watching him for 10 years, and now that he hasn’t performed well in years, his career is fully dependent on having the captaincy.

He can either fully comply with Misbah or he can retire

Things that generally a captain would decide - playing 11 selection, field placement, batting positions, bowling changes - all of these are now fully reminiscent of Misbah’s tenure as captain. Misbah is the real captain here, Azhar is just a instrument
 
A good captain needs at least three things: luck, a good set of players and a brain. Azhar Ali has none of them.
 
He is a spineless human being. Blame the guy who made him captain. Azhar is a Yes Sir guy who is just following the clueless game plans given by Misbah.
 
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aukhan said:
He is a spineless human being. Blame the guy who made him captain. Azhar is a Yes Sir guy who is just following the clueless game plans given by Misbah.
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To be honest, Azhar is just as clueless even without Misbah, he was not setting the world on fire even with Waqar and Mickey Arthur as coach. Unfortunately you have to be a tough taskmaster with personality in order to captain the Pakistani team successfully
 
Really cant read much into his captaincy in this Match - not enough play.
 
MenInG said:
Really cant read much into his captaincy in this Match - not enough play.
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My understanding is that the Chief Selector provides the Captain with a squad from which he chooses his Final Playing Eleven.

Azhar needs to stand up to Misbah and take responsibility.

We all know that he is just the puppet, but Azhar is responsible for having no spinner in this team.

Azhar is responsible for having 5 batsmen out of 6 over the age of 30.

Azhar is responsible for choosing to field an attack with a combined total of less than 100 Test wickets.

The inevitable draw will save him from being fully exposed for these errors.

But he needs to take control of the team he captains.
 
I'm gonna be the first to say it if Azhar fails in batting in this test which they might bad on day 5 (reckon day 4 will be a wash out as well, but hey ho Allah maalik hai) then after Bangladesh series boot him out.

I'm sick and tired of these players not taking responsibility and admitting to their obvious dips in form. I'm sick and tired of Azhar Ali telling people to be "patient", better use that word carefully else you might catch fire. Domestic performers like Fawad Alam, Saud Shakeel, Usman Salhuddin, Saad Ali, Tabish Khan and many others should've replaced you guys years ago.

There has to be an outcry for change in this next test match whether some of them bat well or not otherwise scrap the domestic cricket and kindly name the team "Punjab XI".

Somebody needs to call these people out on their crap. The public needs honest answers!
 
Tomorrow may be a test of his mindset. With 2 days left it's easy enough to take on a lazy attitude and sit back.
 
A new captain and a bowler like Yasir Shah - things slipping away from Pakistan?
 
Azhar Ali captaincy being criticized as 'reactive' by Danny Morrison
 
He is a dumb proxy captain. His tactics were exposed during his ODI stint. Blame the vindictive guy who made him captain just to get back at Sarfraz. Captaincy should have gone to then VC Asad or Babar.
 
aukhan said:
He is a dumb proxy captain. His tactics were exposed during his ODI stint. Blame the vindictive guy who made him captain just to get back at Sarfraz. Captaincy should have gone to then VC Asad or Babar.
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Simply refuses to attack - think he is worried about the lead already.
 
Azhar Ali will forever be a kitten in a dogs world. That is just his nature, no amount of training, pep talking, time, investment, teaching is going to change it. If Pakistan Cricket truly needs to move forward, they need to up their standards and get rid of cricketers like Azhar Ali from their ranks
 
Azhar ali was never the right choice for captaincy , even in his prime form. He just doesnt have it in him.
 
Acha bacha Azhar Ali.... Misbah's side kick on his way to earn humiliation for Pakistan just like his boss did throughout his own career.
 
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Look at this field and you'd think Shaheen was bowling to Viv Richards rather than Dilruwan Perera.
 
Syed1 said:
Acha bacha Azhar Ali.... Misbah's side kick on his way to earn humiliation for Pakistan just like his boss did throughout his own career.
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Like his boss did? Isn't he your most successful Test captain in history?
 
MenInG said:
Simply refuses to attack - think he is worried about the lead already.
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Just like Mohammad Yousuf he is not captaincy material at all. We will gonna lose Azhar the Test player as well due to this blunder. He will be under too much pressure to bounce back after another sacking. There are already calls for his retirement due to knee injuries. Misbah has thrown Azhar under the bus just to save himself.
 
aukhan said:
Just like Mohammad Yousuf he is not captaincy material at all. We will gonna lose Azhar the Test player as well due to this blunder. He will be under too much pressure to bounce back after another sacking. There are already calls for his retirement due to knee injuries. Misbah has thrown Azhar under the bus just to save himself.
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Azhar Ali ain't doing much as a player anyways for a while. Seems like he's done as a test player but let's see how long it will take Misbah to drop him.
 
Clueless captaincy and he absolutely bowled shaheen into the ground in the final session. Needs to be dropped and relived of captaincy asap give it to Babar if not Shafiq on a series by series basis.
 
ikky47 said:
Clueless captaincy and he absolutely bowled shaheen into the ground in the final session. Needs to be dropped and relived of captaincy asap give it to Babar if not Shafiq on a series by series basis.
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In Shaa Allah Bangladesh and Pakistan have a test series if not in January then in February In Shaa Allah they come around.

I feel that Shafiq has been just an ok-ish player but wouldn't make far too many changes with dropping him also. I'd say regardless of whatever Azhar Ali scores tomorrow i'd still drop him and give the captaincy to Babar (Bangladesh won't be bad as a 1st assignment).

Other drops should be Shan Masood, Haris Sohail and Yasir Shah. Need to trial new players and take a positive approach, start rewarding your domestic performers.

My dream playing XI for Bangladesh:

1. Sami Aslam/Imran Butt
2. Abid Ali
3. Babar Azam (c)
4. Saud Shakeel/Saad Ali/Usman Salhuddin
5. Fawad Alam
6. Asad Shafiq
7. Muhammad Rizwan
8. Kashif Bhatti/Zahid Mehmood
9. Naseem Shah
10. Muhammad Abbas
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi

12. Numan Ali (depends on conditions whether to play an extra spinner or not)
 
aukhan said:
Just like Mohammad Yousuf he is not captaincy material at all. We will gonna lose Azhar the Test player as well due to this blunder. He will be under too much pressure to bounce back after another sacking. There are already calls for his retirement due to knee injuries. Misbah has thrown Azhar under the bus just to save himself.
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I know historically the PCB chairman has decided on captaincy all the way up to Sarfraz, but it seems like Misbah has more a role with Azhar's appointment.
Was anything ever fully confirmed whether Misbah is the final decision maker on captaincy, or is it just that his advice carries more weight with the 3-4 roles he has?
 
Should have bowled them out for ~200 when SL was 184-7 with a weak tail and fast bowlers bowling well, but Azhar was too defensive.

No third slip on a pitch that was helping the fast bowlers, Shaheen had multiple edges go through 3rd slip

Really weak captain
 
Went into defensive mode far too early today when he should have been looking to wrap up the innings.
 
Azhar wasnt impressive, a good captain rarely lets sides slip away as much as he did from 80/5. Then again he is out of form himself and a big responsibility along with that. I had the same issues with Sarfaraz as well who couldnt somehow finish from strong positions on number of occasions. Yes other teams are also there to play but you need to do whatever you can during those turning points of the matches and I think tactics and strategies during those points werent great.

I dont mind having a fielder on two on boundaries to keep the strong shots or poor balls to one instead of four but aggressive field positions should still be there.

To be honest Karunaratne in the 2nd innings of Pak havent been that great as well when he had fielders on boundaries against spinners when Pak had 30-40 on board.
 
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SL 127/5 but Azhar feels it's a good idea to have a deep point instead of third slip. And of course, the ball is edged towards third slip.

And Naseem Shah standing at backward point :salute
 
Abdullah719 said:
SL 127/5 but Azhar feels it's a good idea to have a deep point instead of third slip. And of course, the ball is edged towards third slip.

And Naseem Shah standing at backward point :salute
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are you even watching the game? Yasir is bowling absolute trash and getting hit for 2 4s each over yet you want attacking field.
 
MRSN said:
are you even watching the game? Yasir is bowling absolute trash and getting hit for 2 4s each over yet you want attacking field.
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Shaheen was bowling then so not sure how that's relevant to my post....

Even if Yasir is bowling trash which he is, you can continue to attack from the other end with the amount of runs there are on the board.
 
Lacking ideas and energy.

Went defensive too early, instead of putting new batsmen under pressure.

He's playing the waiting game, which is a dangerous option.
 
New man in - only 2 slips. Lousy captaincy.
 
My question to Wasim, Mani and Misbah is that what did they see in his stint as ODI captain to believe that he has the capacity to lead the Test side?

I really hope Saj can ask them this question directly.
 
Joke captain as expected, mickey had more faith in azhar captaincy and misbah strategy than Sri Lankan batting, in the end he was not disappointed. Spread out field, Field misses and drop catches galore. If Sarfraz was captain the match would've been finished by now. Lethargic batting by Sri Lanka yet they still survive thanks to Pakostani captain Azhar.
 
ZamanFan said:
Joke captain as expected, mickey had more faith in azhar captaincy and misbah strategy than Sri Lankan batting, in the end he was not disappointed. Spread out field, Field misses and drop catches galore. If Sarfraz was captain the match would've been finished by now. Lethargic batting by Sri Lanka yet they still survive thanks to Pakostani captain Azhar.
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Ofcourse, Mickey himself is a tactical genius.
 
Titan24 said:
Ofcourse, Mickey himself is a tactical genius.
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His fielders took catches his lower middle order fought for 5he team. Have we seen that in Pak batting ever who play for their stats. Arthur has a genius as opponent.
 
Mamoon said:
My question to Wasim, Mani and Misbah is that what did they see in his stint as ODI captain to believe that he has the capacity to lead the Test side?

I really hope Saj can ask them this question directly.
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Looks like a scenario where the next cab in the rank gets the job by default.
 
He's a very defensive captain, you can see that in selection, in bowling changes, and field placements - very similar to Misbah. In a way, its the perfect combination.

When you have 2 guys who are bowling well at around 140kmph, 270+ runs left with just 4 wickets to go - having a deep point and a deep square leg, with just 2 slips and no other close fielders is inexcusable.
 
Awful captaincy by AA. He doesn't even do common sense things well, never mind being creative. With 5 overs left, only 2 slips against a new batsmen. Is this terrible Captain the best we can do?
 
Yasir was struggling yet he kept on bowling him with an awful in/out field.

Very strange, mind-boggling and poor captaincy.
 
Mamoon said:
My question to Wasim, Mani and Misbah is that what did they see in his stint as ODI captain to believe that he has the capacity to lead the Test side?

I really hope Saj can ask them this question directly.
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Doubt whether Wasim or Mani had much of a say in this.
 
Comfortably the worst captain ever I have seen at any level of cricket. Thank you shameless misbah.
 
Azhar Ali very well captained the side today. Excellent DRS reviews, very good field placements and timely bowling changes.
 
Brave call to bowl first on a flat deck. Paid off so far but had it not been for Nasim’s hattrick it could have been squeaky bum time on day 4/5 chasing 200 odd
 
Facing a uphill battle azhar and he's not exactly the most popular captain as it is
He takes it in his stride, very old school and chilled, no swag whatsoever

He may have use shoaib malik in the team especially which his offspin for the likes of Ben stokes and moeen ali

The batting has 5 openers who should all play which should mean Pakistan can play the new ball
The bowling depends on abbas who did nothing against Leicestershire
Afridi will have to chip in as hasnain and Rauf are not ready fire
It will not spin so yasir shah should sit out, bhatti could be the surprise package
 
chacha kashmiri said:
Facing a uphill battle azhar and he's not exactly the most popular captain as it is
He takes it in his stride, very old school and chilled, no swag whatsoever

He may have use shoaib malik in the team especially which his offspin for the likes of Ben stokes and moeen ali

The batting has 5 openers who should all play which should mean Pakistan can play the new ball
The bowling depends on abbas who did nothing against Leicestershire
Afridi will have to chip in as hasnain and Rauf are not ready fire
It will not spin so yasir shah should sit out, bhatti could be the surprise package
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images
 
chacha kashmiri said:
Facing a uphill battle azhar and he's not exactly the most popular captain as it is
He takes it in his stride, very old school and chilled, no swag whatsoever

He may have use shoaib malik in the team especially which his offspin for the likes of Ben stokes and moeen ali

The batting has 5 openers who should all play which should mean Pakistan can play the new ball
The bowling depends on abbas who did nothing against Leicestershire
Afridi will have to chip in as hasnain and Rauf are not ready fire
It will not spin so yasir shah should sit out, bhatti could be the surprise package
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Shaoib malik in the tests team,

5 openers and which ones should play in tests.
Husnain and rauf wont play tests.
 
Should be his last tour. He has been woefully out of form for a while now and it looks like he is not going to get much better.

We need a solid no.3 going forward and I don't think Haris is it. He isn't fit, focused or intrested in working out his problems, I don't think he has much more left to give.
 
His captaincy is a major worry for the England series. Misbah seems to have a big influence on him. Misbah captaincy away from Asia was poor.
 
He will be badly out of form for this tour and his captaincy hasn't been great either. Will this be his final tour... not sure specially with Misbah at the helm but it should be the final nail in the coffin for his career.
 
My current vote for test captain is either Shan or perhaps Babar. If Azhar fails in this tour (which i don't think he will as the new no spit shine rule will make bowlers not as effective) then i say high time you appoint a suitable replacement as his batting form alone has been poor.
 
Arsal_AK said:
Should be his last tour. He has been woefully out of form for a while now and it looks like he is not going to get much better.

We need a solid no.3 going forward and I don't think Haris is it. He isn't fit, focused or intrested in working out his problems, I don't think he has much more left to give.
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It will be his last tour if he doesnt perform he has to perform to stay in the team
 
Shoaibbtt said:
My current vote for test captain is either Shan or perhaps Babar. If Azhar fails in this tour (which i don't think he will as the new no spit shine rule will make bowlers not as effective) then i say high time you appoint a suitable replacement as his batting form alone has been poor.
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Shan is good option dont wanna give to much responsibility to babar atm.stil anderson and broad and archer will make the ball talk
 
Azhar is a waste of a plane ticket.

Captain Fantastic averages 28 since Misbah and Younis retired. 80% of his Test runs in that time have come either at home or in UAE. And he averages a mighty 12 overseas.

And he is expected to face Anderson and Broad bowling with the red Dukes ? God help Pakistan.
 
Markhor said:
Azhar is a waste of a plane ticket.

Captain Fantastic averages 28 since Misbah and Younis retired. 80% of his Test runs in that time have come either at home or in UAE. And he averages a mighty 12 overseas.

And he is expected to face Anderson and Broad bowling with the red Dukes ? God help Pakistan.
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He has to perform if not should be sacked and dropped no ifs or buts
 
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