My judgement of Imad is based on the following:
- His lack of actual emotional intelligence. The best captains are ones that can have their players play above their ability. Good, functional captains let players play at their ability. Poor captains actually have players play within themselves, because of the dressing room atmosphere they cultivate. You can see from the performance of the younger players under him ( who are the most unsure of their abilities) who underperformed under him. Niazi is a much better player than he showed. Qasim was a shadow of the player he was last year (and he’s better than last year, per his National T20 performances). Imad is too much of an alpha to be able to effectively empathise with players. Babar just is better at that role. Thus you can see someone like a Haseebullah, a player thought
of as unsuited to this format, play with freedom.
Decision making- There were many perplexing decisions from Imad on this PSL. The over reliance on Aamir Yamin, Imran Tahir and Shoaib Malik was head scratching. Imad hiding behind Malik in key matches, which KK went onto lose. Releasing the pressure when having the opposition down 3/4 wickets. That’s not just personnel or bad player performances. That’s directly on the captain.
Also on Babar, I agree with his s/r issues. However in the later games I’ve actively seen him try to go harder. That is very much a work in progress.
The problem I have is that Imad’s ‘bravado’ and PR is somehow seen as effective captaincy. It just isn’t. He has an elite mindset, and he has my respect for that. But he hasn’t been able to translate that element into inspirational captaincy.
Babar, for all his timidity, gets players to play for him. In doing so, they perform to and sometimes above their ability. That’s why I think he’s a better captain than Imad, if not a great captain overall.