Did Azhar Ali shoot himself in the foot by requesting for Mohammad Hafeez's inclusion?

[Square Drive]

Remember, Hafeez wasn't in the squad originally, until Azhar along with Mickey called for his inclusion. Now with Azhar injured and Sarfraz returning home, who's gonna lead? That's right, none other than Hafeez.

Had Hafeez not been there, I don't know if Malik would have agreed to lead the side (either way I rate Hafeez as a better captain than Malik), but in the event that he did not, we'd have an inexperienced skipper in the form of Imad/Babar which would have obviously been good for the future, but may have not resulted in a positive result.

Surprise surprise, we won under Hafeez. With Azhar expected to continue sitting out come the 3rd ODI, Hafeez will all but lead the side on Wednesday as well, and if he does manage to win, where do we go from there?

Winning anything in Australia takes some doing, so the captain definitely deserves great credit.

When you add in the fact that Azhar the captain has been struggling (not even talking about his batting), it makes Hafeez look even better?

Recap: why is Hafeez leading the side today? That's right, because Azhar called for him!

So, will Azhar calling for Hafeez's inclusion prove to be detrimental for his ODI future? Discuss.

 

[Rayyman]

Yeah if it was Azhar's decision then it could be one that can cost him in the future.

 

[BabarAkmal_Fan]

Hafeez is twice the batsman and 5 times the captain that Azhar is. He is a very mediocre player but he is still better than Azhar.

Every 3/5 games Azhar will start off 10(30) while Hafeez would only do this 1/5 games.

 

[Pete Rose]

Azhar as always does what he thinks is good for the team. It's the way the cookie crumbles some times

 

[Pete Rose]

Hafeez is twice the batsman and 5 times the captain that Azhar is. He is a very mediocre player but he is still better than Azhar.

Every 3/5 games Azhar will start off 10(30) while Hafeez would only do this 1/5 games.

Curious if you would be making such bold proclamations if smith had not shelled the catch in the second odi

 

[FreePalestine]

I think if Azhar feels that Hafeez is doing a better job than he did as a captain, he will step down himself tbh. If Hafeez wins this series for Pak as captain, I think Azhar will voluntarily resign.

Azhar is still a quality batsman, and deserves a spot in the ODI team. Look up past series, I'm sure he was one of our top scorers. In a batting line up like Pakistan's, you definitely need a player who can average 40/45 with a 70-75 strike rate. All our other batsmen will mostly average 35, and actually with strike rates not hugely better!

 

[godzilla]

i dont get the sense that azhar is so self centred as to feel too hard done by even if he loses the captaincy. hafeez is the same. malik didnt want the captaincy either. just because afridi did anything for it, im not sure everyone else in the side has a burning desire for the captaincy.

 

[Black Zero]

Hafeez is the correct replacement of Azhar howeverHafeez is going to fail as batsman, bowler, fielder and as captain, sooner than we expect.

So our future is safe.

Everyone knew, it was azhar's last series as captain anyway.

 

[ads101]

If another captain seems to be a better choice for the team, think Azhar himself will step down. Hafeez I don't think even wants captaincy after he was stripped of his T20 captaincy. Probably realises it's a poisoned chalice.

Think the plan all along in ODIs was for Malik to get captaincy again by the PCB. They wanted someone who was renown for limited overs cricket captaincy and Malik fit the bill. Which is why he was given chance after chance despite failing/poor form. He just didn't recover form in time. By the time he recovered it, it was too late and Azhar was captain. Malik also doesn't want to captain anymore now.

Think most seniors in the team have realised captaincy isn't worth it, you get too much flak for losses. The public however are likely to be more forgiving of people less experienced. Thus I feel the seniors in the team have realised it's probably better for them for Azhar to be captain.

The only person I see that would actually like captaincy in the ODI team is Sarfraz, whom has had mostly positive things said about him. Even then though, don't think he's desperate for it or would try and dethrone Azhar.

Before we had a lot of seniors who got a lot of attention/stardom and were cemented in the team hence wanted the glory of captaincy. Now our seniors e.g. Hafeez and Malik are kind of lucky they're still in the team and interested in just holding their place.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Azhar is a nice fella, I don't think he cares about these things.

 

[Square Drive]

Peoole who say Azhar will step down if he sees someone else doing better than him, I feel that way too.

However, one could argue that if this was the case, wouldn't he have stepped down from the post after the England ODIs, especially after Sarfraz did a great job in the T20I?

 

[nighthawk23]

I thought Hafeez made a serious error when he bowled 8 overs of Amir by the 35th over Luckily it didn't come back to bite him.

 

[ads101]

Peoole who say Azhar will step down if he sees someone else doing better than him, I feel that way too.

However, one could argue that if this was the case, wouldn't he have stepped down from the post after the England ODIs, especially after Sarfraz did a great job in the T20I?

After a few T20 games looks a bit weak to suddenly decide that you're not good enough and give it to someone else. Azhar will give it a try first and if it doesn't work out, then leave it.

For example if Azhar gives it up, then it goes to Sarfraz who fails, people will be attacking Azhar telling him why didn't he at least try to be captain.

 

[coy0607]

its not so much that Hafeez is so great, it more so that Azhar himself sucks as an ODI player and captain

even if it was Sarfraz or Malik as captain, the result would've been the same

cream always rises to the top, Azhar clearly wasn't meant to be captain, he could've been overshadowed by many people

 

[Cosmic]

Well M.Hafeez is far better player in ODI then azhar Ali; M.Hafeez has some guts... !!!

 

[Syed1]

I thought Hafeez made a serious error when he bowled 8 overs of Amir by the 35th over Luckily it didn't come back to bite him.

Not true, he still had 4 overs of Junaid and 5 overs of Hasan up his sleeve. Both of whom had bowled spectacularly in the innings. Hafeez was spot on in his bowling changes.

 

[Syed1]

Captaincy:

Hafeez > Azhar

ODI Batting:

Hafeez = Azhar

ODI Bowling:

Hafeez >> Azhar

Fielding:

Hafeez < Azhar


Hafeez is a better overall package to lead the side, however he isn't a massive upgrade over Azhar in terms of his batting output.

 

[Cosmic]

Not true, he still had 4 overs of Junaid and 5 overs of Hasan up his sleeve. Both of whom had bowled spectacularly in the innings. Hafeez was spot on in his bowling changes.

Yup agreed.. Calculated bowling.. but he took so much risk with excessive time with Imad and himself.. he need to change little early when bowler getting hit so easily after even 2 over's or so.. but good captaincy overall..

 

[Square Drive]

After a few T20 games looks a bit weak to suddenly decide that you're not good enough and give it to someone else. Azhar will give it a try first and if it doesn't work out, then leave it.

For example if Azhar gives it up, then it goes to Sarfraz who fails, people will be attacking Azhar telling him why didn't he at least try to be captain.

Fair enough.

Let's hope we win this series, and he steps down.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

I wanted Azhar to step down but wanted him to be replaced by a younger,proactive captain.Hafeez certainly is much more proactive but he's about 8 years too old for my liking.Imad is also 29 so not like he's exactly young

 

[Parvaiz Occupied Kashmiri]

Right bhai Hafeez Was awesome

 

[Statsman]

Australia really let Hafeez off the hook. Even after the dropped catch he wasn't looking comfortable at all and was playing at a dismal strike rate. Hazlewood didn't bowl the right channels to him.

 

[Speedster777]

Captaincy:

Hafeez > Azhar

ODI Batting:

Hafeez = Azhar

ODI Bowling:

Hafeez >> Azhar

Fielding:

Hafeez < Azhar


Hafeez is a better overall package to lead the side, however he isn't a massive upgrade over Azhar in terms of his batting output.

Agreed. Azhar should stick to Test cricket only.

 

[yasir]

People are getting over excited for nothing. One of the reason we won in MCG, wicket was dry, that makes our spinners effective, which is not going to happen everyday and in tournaments, which is bench mark of ODIs, at the end how to you perform in tournaments really matters.

Pakistani batting is severely out dated, when we start wining by chasing 300 scores without sweat, only then we can say that we have entered the new era, before that we are no 7/8 team.

I have problem with all Azhar, Malik, Hafeez, Sarfraz, Shafiq types, non of them can play fast bowling like modern players, they cannot hit them all over the park no matter how flat is wicket. There SR against seamers is too slow, you cannot have so many old era players, if you do you will be like Pakistan, a really old team, who is stuck in 1990, 270 looks impossible for them. Pakistani mgmt and fans need to wake up and stop fantasizing these terrible players, nobody in the world will take them in any ODI team, not even BD and WI, there is nothing special about them. We carried Misbah and YK for some long, now these useless ODI players will be carried till next WC, that's a nightmare as fan