He’s one of the dullest and most unimaginative captains I have seen. Which ever aspect of his captaincy I look, I fail to see any positives.
- Always follows a set template/blue print to captaincy no matter what
- is extremely stubborn and rigid with his selections
- Failure to read the pitch, conditions and opposition’s strength
- Acting like a scared kitten as soon as the opposition gets on top in crunch moments
- Not trusting his middle order enough/putting himself first over the team demands
There are many more such short-comings and I have not based those just on this game; it is a conclusion based on following his captaincy in a multitude of high-pressure/big games.
World T20 2021:
Extreme level of stubbornness in backing Hasan; as a captain you have to back your players but upto a certain point. When you know they are performing terribly consistently, then your backing is seen as harmful to the overall cause of the team
Bowling Imad to Warner (best match-up that we could give to Warner, especially when it was evident that the ball was going to swing for at least one more over).
Failing to complete Imad’s quota when the favorable match-up against Stoinis and Wade was going well. Instead bowled full 4 overs of ‘my-match-winner’ that released all the pressure going into the final two overs of the match.
After the catch went down, instead of being around Shaheen and geeing him up; he looked the most defeated out of all the team members. Even after first six, he failed to stop the game and discuss with Shaheen what they could do different. It was evident that he had given up after the drop catch/first six.
Asia Cup Final:
Having taken 3 wickets on an unexpected lively Dubai wicket, he followed his set template of 2+2+2 overs of fast bowlers in PP and then spin for middle overs. Even after getting two bonus wickets from spin, he didn’t bring fast bowlers back to finish off Sri Lanka and allowed Wanindu and Rajapaksa to settle for a few overs. He brought them back when they were already set, he ball had lost his shine and the pitch had eased up. Reactive captaincy that cost the team a trophy.
India’s game at MCG:
Another example of following a set-pattern/failure to read conditions/being extremely rigid. A couple of choices that highlight this short-coming:
1. Actually the best example of his above mentioned deficiencies. This pitch was tailor-made for 4 fast bowlers, I could understand if you didn’t have quality 4th pace option, then you could play an extra batter instead of picking a fourth seamer but we have seen time and again the extra batter is a waste of space as he either doesn’t get to bat or fails to do anything. You could have easily played to your strengths and go-all out with your strength which is fast bowling. And then seeing the pitch on the eve of the match day, I have no idea why would any team not pick 4 fast bowling options! Totally inexcusable.
2. Most people were apprehensive with regards to Shaheen being rushed back without any competitive cricket. You could rush him back if your back-up was trash and hence you had no option but to bring him back. But we had seen that the back-up options had stepped up and therefore you could ease Shaheen into the tournament by issuing a statement ‘not available for first game’ and play him against Zimbabwe/Netherlands.
But, again his rigidity and lack of big-time /bold decision making meant that we went into India’s game with two-and-a-half pace options when we should have gone with 4! Hasnain on this pitch against India would have been probably the best seam option with the new ball (in the absence of a fully-fit Shaheen). You could even bowl Hasnain through for his 4 overs as he is potent with the new ball and not good at death and that would have infact indirectly suited the team’s cause more!
Failure to read opposition’s strength/conditions:
With India 4 down after 7 overs, and knowing that Pandya is extremely susceptible to bounce/movement, he took pace off completely and allowed him and Kohil to rebuild the innings against spin and get a hang of conditions (Pandya’s case).
He could at least have bowled a couple more overs of fast bowling (1 from Shaheen and 1 from Rauf/Naseem - so that Shaheen doesn’t have to bowl more overs in a phase where he struggles more even when fully fit). Nobody’s sure what would have happened but possibilities of getting rid of Pandya were much more higher against pace on THAT pitch than with spin.
You could put the above decision under the ‘following a set template’ example as well (2+2+2 seam in PP and then spin on for at least 4-5 overs).
What is extremely frustrating that the inept and unimaginative captaincy has a negative effect on the efficiency of team’s best resources (fast bowling and bowling in general). People used to bash Misbah that why he was not attacking enough but you have to remember the resources he had and compare that with what Babar has currently! I am certain that if somebody like Clarke/Finch/McCullum/Williamson/Stokes was captaining the team yesterday, he would have peppered Pandya first up with pace and not worried about what would happen at the death; especially when you consider how significantly the pitch was favoring quick bowling, it was actually a NO-BRAINER that you had to a) play four paces and b) attack them with fast bowling for a couple more overs even after PP.
I truly believe that the pathetic captaincy/team selection was the root cause of the team’s defeat yesterday. Yes, Kohli played an ATG knock but the captaincy from Babar laid the platform for that Pandya/Kohli partnership and then when two batters like them get set, they could achieve even the most toughest looking run-rates in the last 8-10 overs.
Final example of his acting like a scared kitten:
As soon as Pandya and Kohli started to get a move on, you could see that Babar was starting to lose it. He always looked worried and had no sense of calm that the team needs in those moments. Looking at him, you were certain that this guy was not the leader but rather a junior player who saw such situation for the first time and was thinking that they were going to lose.
In-fact, in the last few overs, it was Shadab who looked like the true leader on the field and his demeanor was extremely commendable. He was also discussing bowling plan for the last over with Nawaz and gave the impression that his team was still in the game. (Another huge reason why this guy deserves to be given the T20 captaincy as he is clearly the stand-out leader in the team).
Pakistan will continue to suffer these narrow losses in high-stakes games where the margins are so narrow and the primary reason on most occasions would be poor captaincy centering around unimaginative/rigid decision-making prior to the game as well as defensive and reactive tactics during the game.
