Let’s get something clear first. We are a very poor side because the vast majority of our players are deeply mediocre.
Our delusional fans can overhype these mediocre players all they want, but it does not change what they really are - bog average cricketers who would not get into any top side in the world.
Apart from Babar (and Yasir in some instances), not a single Pakistani player would get anywhere near the Indian, Australian, English etc. lineups.
So simply changing the captain would not change the fate of this team. However, that does not mean that you can let a non-performing cricketer lead the team.
Time and time again, we find ourselves in a situation where the captain is using captaincy as a shield to keep his place in the team while in the top teams, the captain is one of the best performers in the side.
A lot of people are suggesting Shan Masood and this is so typical of Pakistani fans. We get excited easily and our heads are in the clouds before we get a reality check and then we are surprised at the outcome,
Shan Masood has found run scoring an extremely difficult task at every level. He cannot score a fluent 50 without 2-3 dropped catches even to save his life.
However, after the 150 in the first Test, people are acting as if we have found our new Saeed Anwar and want to thrust him with captaincy.
Listen to me carefully so that you don’t whine later. You make him captain now and 24 months later, you will find yourself in the exact same situation where the 32-33 year old Masood will not be scoring any runs and the team will be losing, and you will be demanding him to be ousted from the team.
He has no natural ability and he is in a zone at the moment. Once he finds himself out of this zone, he will have nothing to fall back on and his career will only head one way. He is nothing more than an inferior version of Azhar.
He is going through the same period Azhar went in 2016-2017 where we thought we had found a world beater. However, that did not last and neither will Masood’s purple patch last. He is not good enough to make it last.
The only solution is to make Babar captain and we know it will happen eventually but we will delay it for no reason except that we don’t understand the game of cricket.
All this talk of inexperience and overburden is nonsense. He has been part of international cricket for half a decade now and is already leading the white ball formats.
He will turn 26 in a couple of months. The same age at which Kohli, Smith, Williamson and Root became Test captains.
As far as the notion that he will be overburdened is concerned, you do not know your capacity to lift weight until you lift it. Babar cannot be kept away from Test captaincy because of the assumption that he will crumble under pressure.
You need to give him the opportunity and if he struggles to handle the pressure, then and only then do you decide the way forward.
With Babar leading the side, our fortunes will not change unless you can somehow produce 4-5 world class cricketers. However, with Babar leading the side, you will ensure that your captain is not using his captaincy as a shield to keep himself in the team and will be able to carry his own weight with his individual performances.
You always have the glass half empty mentality and very rarely do you see more than quantifiable matter.
Equating Shan with Azhar's career graph is erroneous to say the least because they are both different people, have different mentalities and intelligence.
Shan is one of the smartest cricketers you will ever get to know, not just in Pakistan, but internationally.
He has tremendous focus, work ethic and believes in innovation and modern coaching methods.
It is this out of the box thinking (hiring Gary Palmer for example) that has got him where he is today, because as you yourself said, he is not very talented.
4 years ago, the guy couldn't play the short ball to save his life. Admittedly, he didn't have the pull or cut shot then. And look at him now.
His struggles against Anderson and the moving ball are well documented but the way he overcame them is in front of everyone.
He will always have troubles but he is someone who will find the answers as well, which makes him a better student of the game and a hence a better tactician.
To compare him to someone who just puppets Misbah, has no opinion of his own, has been getting dismissed in the same manner for 5 years and is just another run of the mill Pakistani cricketer, is just absurd.
Shan, if brought in as captain is going to contribute more than just the sum of his stats. So even if he averages 40 max, I would have him because of the other things he brings to the table.
He is a leader, an innovator, and has an inspirational presence.
If you traverse the domestic cricket scene, you will find out that he has a lot of good will and respect among his peers.
I see him not only being a very good representative for our cricket internationally, but also as someone who can change the paindu culture when it comes to strategy and fitness as well as our shoddy out-cricket.
And yes, coming on to Babar, I dont believe getting him to captain is going to be anywhere near as great a value as having Shan at the helm.
He will just be one of those old fashioned great Pakistani batsmen who turned out to be average captains, because he lacks any sort of communication skills or presence in the field.
