Babar Azam should be removed from the captaincy

[srh]

I know most people will blame Misbah coach, then Waqar bowling coach and then Wasim chief selector. But the captain is very much at fault. The first action should be stripping Babar of captaincy. A good captain with a bad team can still produced little bit good results, but a bad captain will always produced bad results no matter how good the team is. Babar has no captaincy traits. Fire him now.

 

[sweep_shot]

Make Rizwan captain.

I never felt like Babar would be a good captain. He is too timid to be the captain.

Rizwan is better for captaincy.

 

[Rana]

He needs to step down himself

The only suitable option is Imad Wasim. Not even Rizwan

 

[shaz619]

He needs to step down himself

The only suitable option is Imad Wasim. Not even Rizwan

Imad Wasim would need to at least consistently hold his place in the team lol

 

[YousafTheBeast]

If I’m not wrong, there was only one slip fielder in place in the first 10 overs?

Babar doesn’t have an attacking mindset, his approach is very similar to Misbah’s.

Compare it to Stokes’ captaincy, he had 3 slips, a gully and at least tried to put men around the batsman to create pressure.

 

[hb787]

He needs to let go of captaincy. Clealry its not his cup of tea.

 

[OmarKhan99]

Babar did have quite a few impressive field setups (esp the field when Stokes walked in). As he matures in the position he'll learn more about the bowlers' tendencies and he'll learn how to slow the game down.

Definitely should be persisted with. Constant chopping and changing is never productive and would only further lower the morale/confidence in the team.

 

[Rana]

Imad Wasim would need to at least consistently hold his place in the team lol

How is he supposed to do that when he has freshies like Misbah and Waqar pulling the strings behind the scenes?

 

[Savak]

Lol at the hypocricy where people were very tolerant and forgiving and defending of Misbah's captaincy from 2010 to 2017 but all the knives are out against Babar who has perhaps faced his sternest test as captain.

Not saying Babar's captaincy on the field is not to blame but he atleast is your best player and the first question that is asked about a captain is can the guy atleast justify his position in the team as a player in all formats? The answer in Babar's case is a resounding yes, he is the only great player we have who is a guaranteed starter in all formats.

There are no alternatives. Pakistan's pathetic out dated approach in Limited overs format in international cricket clearly lies in a very poor rusted out dated standard of domestic cricket and academies and there are no quick fixes and no quick results that you can really expect if you are facing the likes of Australia, England, New Zealand, India. You have to man up, suck up the losses and move on. Chopping, changing and causing panic, uncertainty in the team is not the way to go. You have to back the best players you have in our set up and allow them to develop from this.

 

[SangasCoverDrive]

I was astounded when I saw Babar set a defensive field when England needed 23 off 24 with 7 down. I was watching the game at the tournament

 

[badsha001]

Rizwan is the only option. Babar needed to step down like yesterday.

 

[Shazzam]

If I’m not wrong, there was only one slip fielder in place in the first 10 overs?

Babar doesn’t have an attacking mindset, his approach is very similar to Misbah’s.

Compare it to Stokes’ captaincy, he had 3 slips, a gully and at least tried to put men around the batsman to create pressure.

Pretty sure Misbah does captaincy for him and Sarfraz when ever he gets selected in the playing 11.

 

[Rana]

Rizwan is the only option. Babar needed to step down like yesterday.

Rizwan will not be any better than Babar. Pakistan needs a pro-active captain like Imad Wasim who actually takes pride in being a leader, also with a bit of an academic background to support his thought process as a decision maker.

Tired of uneducated people who lack charisma and personality in leadership roles!

 

[cric_4life]

Some people are really crazy here. Again Rizwan will fail in one series and the band wagon will go for his head. Loosing a series to England I England is not end of the world.
Constant changing and chopping is the reason why these players feel so insecure and then end up playing selfishly.

 

[Savak]

Rizwan will not be any better than Babar. Pakistan needs a pro-active captain like Imad Wasim who actually takes pride in being a leader, also with a bit of an academic background to support his thought process as a decision maker.

Tired of uneducated people who lack charisma and personality in leadership roles!

Can count many games Imad Wasim has lost due to his poor captaincy. Changing captains after every 3 games will not fix things. Tim Paine has lost 2 series at home against India but still Cricket Australia are sticking with him. Root and Kohli have also lost many series but you don't see their boards and fans throw a hissy fit with an entitled attitude that they have the divine right to win every game.

It is in Pakistan's interest to have a settled captain with a core of players and for the captain to be given Stephen Flemming backing to build a side for ten years. Win, Lose or Draw we will back you

 

[Savak]

Some people are really crazy here. Again Rizwan will fail in one series and the band wagon will go for his head. Loosing a series to England I England is not end of the world.
Constant changing and chopping is the reason why these players feel so insecure and then end up playing selfishly.

This. Steve Waugh in an interview attributed the greatest Australian side from 1998 to 2007 and the coming out of the prolonged slump that occurred in Australian Cricket in the 80's after the retirements of Greg Chappel, Dennis Lillee, Rodney Marsh in 1983 to Allan Borders leadership and the fact that the Australian team management, selectors eventually decided that they have to back the captain, core of the best 15-20 players in the country regardless of the results. Steve Waugh did not even hit a single century in any format for his first 79-80 innings

 

[cric_4life]

Imad Wasim as captain for God Sake ) . Doesn't even make playing 11 and people want him as captain.

 

[globalcitizen]

Babar is still new to captaincy and should be given a longer rope and persisted. taking the captaincy away will also affect him mentally as a player.

The main issue is he was never groomed by his predecessors as a captain material and now suddenly he is made captain.

But As I see, other players look up to him as a leader and that's a good thing. He can start taking tough decisions now and show more authority. Yes he looks defensive , but it could also to do with pressure of losing and he will learn.

 

[Titan24]

A poor series loss but, just his 2nd series loss as captain so far. He is still learning so will have to give him sometime. If he shows no improvement and keeps on losing series after series than there would be a case but, it would be too extreme of a reaction to remove him after this which is so early after his appointment especially when he have had decent results up until now. He has 3 upcoming series within next month or so, he should be focusing upon them.

In my opinion teams, captains and players are developed by showing atleast some consistency. Ofcourse if someone is doing a horrible job every other series than you have to take necessary decisions but, as said its just second series loss for Babar and he is still growing in the role.

Though would like him to take more ownership of his team and also needs to be given as much opportunities to learn at domestic level and PSL. Its an irony how his doesnt captain a PSL side as that can be a pretty good experience.

 

[Buffet]

I did not watch any games, but Babar is very new as a captain. You need to give more time.

 

[iniqbal223]

Babar has become Sachin of 1990's

He should focus on his batting; he can be a very good contributor scoring lots of runs for his team

 

[Savak]

Babar has become Sachin of 1990's

He should focus on his batting; he can be a very good contributor scoring lots of runs for his team

Tendulkar only gave up the captaincy when there were suitable alternatives like Azharuddin. The likes of Dravid, Ganguly were still getting settled in international cricket from 1996-99 and it was only in 2000 when Ganguly became very well settled in the team as a player, personality that Tendulkar was able to step aside.

Babar has no such luxuries yet. The first criteria you need to meet as a captain is that you must merit your place in the team in all three formats of the game and at present there is only one player who meets this criteria that is Babar

 

[Ertugrul_Bey]

At least now people understand the reason behind Sarfaraz constant yelling and screaming. These players are like donkeys with eye patch on. They need someone to constantly yell at them to stimulate their brain cells like Imran and Wasim used to do and Safi was keeping the tradition going.
Babar has no skills to lead a team specially our team.

 

[offstump]

Babar is maturing as a captain. You can see it in his body language and over time he will get better. Babar really isn’t the problem here. This thread is amazing in the sense that nobody else on the team performed yet people are calling for the captain to be removed. It’s also fair to say that we collectively don’t even have 50% of the cricketing knowledge a pro like Babar has accumulated to date, it’s easy to dissect his field settings from the comfort of your living room but you have to trust his decision making.

Also, whoever is advocating for Imad as captain needs to get their head checked.

 

[Savak]

At least now people understand the reason behind Sarfaraz constant yelling and screaming. These players are like donkeys with eye patch on. They need someone to constantly yell at them to stimulate their brain cells like Imran and Wasim used to do and Safi was keeping the tradition going.
Babar has no skills to lead a team specially our team.

Thats all Sarfaraz does i.e. yell and scream. He doesn't score runs, eats like a pig and gets fat. Sarfaraz is not some great captain that he is made out to be. I can count numerous matches he has let slip because of the pressure he has put his team mates under with his shouting and screaming.

Babar may not be the perfect captain right now but he is the only player who is a guaranteed selection in the playing eleven and should be allowed to grow into the role and be given the right to select his desired playing eleven and must be a selector on the Selection Committee.

 

[Savak]

Babar is maturing as a captain. You can see it in his body language and over time he will get better. Babar really isn’t the problem here. This thread is amazing in the sense that nobody else on the team performed yet people are calling for the captain to be removed. It’s also fair to say that we collectively don’t even have 50% of the cricketing knowledge a pro like Babar has accumulated to date, it’s easy to dissect his field settings from the comfort of your living room but you have to trust his decision making.

Also, whoever is advocating for Imad as captain needs to get their head checked.

This i agree with. His body language is improving, this is perhaps his toughest assignment to date and hopefully he will learn from this experience. He will definately realize the importance of selecting his own squad of 11 players and taking the power away from the coach.

 

[IndianMafia]

Keep him captian till the next world cup.

 

[Ashraful_Rox]

Bring back Umar Akmal and make him captain, he has the eye of the tiger and all that

 

[iniqbal223]

Tendulkar only gave up the captaincy when there were suitable alternatives like Azharuddin. The likes of Dravid, Ganguly were still getting settled in international cricket from 1996-99 and it was only in 2000 when Ganguly became very well settled in the team as a player, personality that Tendulkar was able to step aside.

Babar has no such luxuries yet. The first criteria you need to meet as a captain is that you must merit your place in the team in all three formats of the game and at present there is only one player who meets this criteria that is Babar

They can go back to Sarafaraz for ODI/T20 captaincy (He was not doing bad as captain after all, atleast not this bad)

They can still keep Babar as Test match captain, and see if he can still continue to become better

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Change Misbah and Waqar then many things will change automatically , turns into a good shape.

Agree that Babar is not a very good captain but he is the obvious choice and will stick with him for the long run. Fans need to digest that he is the only world class player they have and he is the one to hold on to this title for the long term.

Aggressive thinking and attacking mindset comes with people who creates that environment for the players to thrive on. Last thing that I would expect from Misbah-Waqar to do so , after fired then can whine about their terms in media whenever Pak didn’t do well, should be fallen to deaf ears and don’t let them sneak in again.

Babar is young as a cricketer and a captain , PCB should continue to back him and provide the environment for him learn the art of captaincy with proper coaches and management staffs.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

They can go back to Sarafaraz for ODI/T20 captaincy (He was not doing bad as captain after all, atleast not this bad)

They can still keep Babar as Test match captain, and see if he can still continue to become better

Only Pak fans name players who are not in the first 11 of the team to be captains after a series loss.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Babar is maturing as a captain. You can see it in his body language and over time he will get better. Babar really isn’t the problem here.

This thread is amazing in the sense that nobody else on the team performed yet people are calling for the captain to be removed

. It’s also fair to say that we collectively don’t even have 50% of the cricketing knowledge a pro like Babar has accumulated to date, it’s easy to dissect his field settings from the comfort of your living room but you have to trust his decision making.

Also, whoever is

advocating for Imad as captain needs to get their head checked

.

Summary of this thread pretty much. The suggestions I see are Sarfraz , Imad and Shadab
Players who are out of the 11 or on the verge of getting dropped in terms of skill, fitness and performance are suggested to be the replacements

Rizwan another suggestion, this guy blows hot and cold for a while now. He is better than Sarfraz in keeping and scoring runs which is totally agree but he is not dhoni or sangakkara yet to be given the hat for captaincy.

People call him to be the captain because his team win in PSL , his team also had Andy flower as coach who can strategise the team from the verge of elimination to win the tournament

Remember how well Rizwan struggled to get going in the final and here in the first 2 games.

This team under Misbah cant go any further up, fans should lower their expectations and should stop suggesting to change the captain when he is only one who can score runs in every pitch and the only world class player that other teams look up to.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Can count many games Imad Wasim has lost due to his poor captaincy. Changing captains after every 3 games will not fix things. Tim Paine has lost 2 series at home against India but still Cricket Australia are sticking with him. Root and Kohli have also lost many series but you don't see their boards and fans throw a hissy fit with an entitled attitude that they have the divine right to win every game.

It is in Pakistan's interest to have a settled captain with a core of players and for the captain to be given Stephen Flemming backing to build a side for ten years. Win, Lose or Draw we will back you

Babar will be a better captain in years to come , PCB should back him and provide a world class coach like Andy flower, Tom Moody to help him guide. He is still fresh to the captaincy role but to me he looked much better with his body language in this series even under Misbah-Waqar is the highlight here. I see him getting better at it.

 

[Rana]

Imad Wasim as captain for God Sake ) . Doesn't even make playing 11 and people want him as captain.

But people want Rizwan who averages 28 as a captain too

 

[UzmanBeast]

Babar Azam is the only realistic option.

Good captains have good managements behind them. If you think most captains around the world are naturally brilliant, you're wrong. The analysts of the team come up with the plans, the captains usually just follow them and get credit.

By the way, congratulations to Babar Azam for his 20th international hundred.

Truly the only world class player on our team.

 

[Rana]

Who’s bright idea was it to have Sohaib Maqsood at long on?

 

[The_KING]

Babar is very new to captaincy. He is learning on the job. I don’t think a poor team like Pakistan can afford to have a captain like Babar. We need someone with a bit more experience.

 

[Firebat]

Misbah-ul-Haq:

Since Babar has become captain, his performances as a batsman have improved which means he is handling pressure very well. In terms of captaincy obviously he is new, he’s inexperienced as a captain so he is still learning and he will improve in time. Nobody can be perfect so quickly. Mistakes are made by even the best captains and if you are a young and inexperienced captain then you will make mistakes and they will be visible. The more experienced you become as a captain, the better you get at it.

 

[Savak]

Babar is very new to captaincy. He is learning on the job. I don’t think a poor team like Pakistan can afford to have a captain like Babar. We need someone with a bit more experience.

Lol, whats the point? Sarfaraz had the experience but he abused the fact that there were no alternatives compared to him and was rightfully removed because as a captain the first criteria you must fulfil is being able to merit your spot in the playing eleven in all 3 formats.

I will keep maintaining like a broken record but a team like Pakistan with not so many world class outstanding players in its system cannot afford to panic and constantly chop, changing captains, players because that will just breed insecurity, selfishness, playing for yourself rather than the team and the team will never be settled. You have to at some point be honest and realistic about where you are and accept the fact that a group of 15-20 players are the best in your country and win/lose/draw, you will back these core group of players for the next 4-5 years and back them to improve and start delivering against big sides as they gain more experience, confidence.

I want the PCB to give Babar Azam the Stephen Fleming type of support and backing from 1997 to 2007. Flemming was not a born tactician or leader early on in the role, he was the best batsman in the team but with the passage of time he learnt more about his team, his batsmen, bowlers and learnt more about how to get the best out of them and his understanding of the game, what to do in different match situations also developed. He would have been an all time great captain had he been captaining NZ's current bunch of players.

 

[cric_4life]

But people want Rizwan who averages 28 as a captain too

people will always have opinions. everyone has personal favorites. Everyone wanted Babar to be captain as well. He is still the best choice.
Nothing He can do if others don't score runs, if his team mates keep dropping catches.
If Fakhar keeps getting out same way again and again.

 

[shamaan]

Now that he has been given the captaincy he needs to be given long run otherwise we will be changing after every series or two

 

[cricketfan11]

Rizwan is a captain in the making, but it was initially wrong to remove Sarfraz as captain (time has proven this right).

Babar is ok, but the problem is that player management is way too poor now.

We are dealing with a management which does not know how to produce good players. They have forgotten that it is wrong firstly to foster an environment where only T20 is prioritised and then expect T20 mentality players to beat good teams. That is the root of all problems.

 

[Cricketrenew]

Stick with Babar and Rizwan Vice Captain.
Point out his mistakes.
Get rid of management, they not bring any new talent that is out of this world.
Looks like Pak Cricket is in dark ages.... no bowling match winners.
One World Class batsman and one world class wicket keeper batsman (I dont mean sarfraz).

 

[iniqbal223]

I have concern,

we might even lose one batsman of international calibre also

Babar should step down from captaincy ; he will be much more safe and can focus on scoring lots of runs

 

[Bewal Express]

A silly suggestion.

 

[Sir-fraz]

Untill we get a management that is actually hungry to improve the team and is not just showing up for the paycheque nothing is going to change...

Too many useless people getting paid because of sifarish...

 

[MesonK]

Rizwan should be made the captain. Babar should focus on his batting and assume the vice captain role standing in slips with Rizwan.

 

[Slim]

Ignorance at its peak in this thread. Babar should be persisted with, he is the least of worries.

 

[mumtaz]

I think what the OP really meant was that "Babar Azam should be scapegoated" so that Misbah and Waqar can hold onto their positions.

 

[ahmadharis1]

I do not like Babar as captain, but our best bet is to stick with him through the 2023 world cup and hope he improves. The constant changing isn't good for the team.