"I advised Shahryar Khan to appoint Sarfaraz as captain but he persisted with Azhar" : Najam Sethi

[hadi123]

"I advised Shahryar Khan to appoint Sarfaraz as captain but he persisted with Azhar" : Najam Sethi

Najam Sethi quotes from an interview last night:

"Because of PSL, there is pressure on senior players to perform or step aside"

"There was a time when I advised Shahryar Khan to appoint Sarfaraz Ahmed as captain but he hesitated and persisted with Azhar Ali and experimented which didn't work out"

"Very soon, we will tell everyone the status of our 'feud' with the BCCI"

"India aren't even ready to play in Dubai, so no chance that they will play in Pakistan" (When questioned on why Asia Cup can't be held in Pakistan)

"Let's be honest, the amount one player gets from IPL, that's more than what the 13 players (WI) got for coming here" (On why some players were rested)

"This (West Indies series) was a national effort and some people (Imran Khan) have also realized that saying such things (Relu Katta) is against our nation so they shouldnt say it"

"Our cricket calendar is so full that I don't see any place for a foreign tour to happen to Pakistan"

"We want to play a trilateral series in USA in late August, early September but we can't even find a place (in the calendar) for that"


And 1 quote from Nadeem Omar:

"What we earned from gate-money in all Dubai/Sharjah during PSL, we earned the same in Karachi final"

 

[mmkextreme_1]

Must say he shouldn't be making statements like this.

 

[j_kazmi]

Time to cash in mr Sethi I guess.

 

[Godhelpma]

Idiotic statement , he should not ridicule his colleagues in order to trying to prove himself a smart brain .This statement can also cause negativity in Azhar ‘s mind who is still playing for national team .

 

[Fire Bird]

"There was a time when I advised Shahryar Khan to appoint Sarfaraz Ahmed as captain but he hesitated and persisted with Azhar Ali and experimented which didn't work out"

Of course you did Mr.Sethi. Of course you did. Why didn't he come out with it before

"Very soon, we will tell everyone the status of our 'feud' with the BCCI"

Well I will be waiting with some Does he think people are stupid? Keep the soap operas rolling.

"Let's be honest, the amount one player gets from IPL, that's more than what the 13 players (WI) got for coming here" (On why some players were rested)

Why don't you ask and to have a chat with the WI players. Maybe they will buy in to ze superiority of PSL and Pakistan cricket.

 

[Markhor]

Very self-serving statement. Sethi was part of PCB when decision to appoint Azhar was made.

 

[Savak]

Pointless Statement. Lol plus its not like Sarfaraz is a great captain, Sarfaraz has many issues and for me he is very much an on top captain, I have seen him lose it against his team mates and himself when the going gets tough, when the opposition is counterpunching powerfully and he just doesn't recover well with his field placements and bowling changes and his body language goes for a toss as well. A lot to improve on.

 

[backfootpunch]

Idiotic statement , he should not ridicule his colleagues in order to trying to prove himself a smart brain .This statement can also cause negativity in Azhar ‘s mind who is still playing for national team .

Well said. Horrible manner in the ways he talks about Pakistan's number 1 test batsman after some of his heroic knocks in recent years. Should apologise and resign.

 

[Mamoon]

The Azhar experiment turned out to be a failure so it is not surprising that no one wants to take responsibility now.

With Misbah and Younis retiring and as the most established batsman in the country with many years left in the tank, Azhar was considered the right candidate to bring solidity to the ODI team. In addition, his mature personality was a bonus.

The likes of Umar, Shehzad and Maqsood were not in contention because of their attitude and performance, and Malik was not in the plans of the selectors. He was only brought back because Fawad Alam failed terribly against Bangladesh.

Ultimately, the choice was between Azhar, Sarfraz and Shafiq - Sarfraz was still a new kid on the block and had established himself in international cricket for 12-15 months only, and Azhar was considered a better player than Shafiq, and was pretty much the de facto Test Vice Captain during the Misbah era.

However, Azhar's limitations as a batsman were exposed by the emergence of Babar and Sharjeel and resurgence of Malik. Babar and Malik played the anchor role far better, and Sharjeel showed that aggressive opening combinations was the way forward.

In addition, he had the misfortune of playing 15 ODIs against England and Australia in 1.5 years, brutally exposing him as a player and captain.

Sarfraz is not the legendary tactician that he is portrayed on PP and he is a mediocre Limited Overs cricketer, but he is still way ahead of Azhar on both fronts. The Champions Trophy has elevated his status to a different level, but he has also been lucky to play a lot of of matches against weak opposition.

We have played the likes of Sri Lanka and West Indies too many times over the last year. The New Zealand series was just an indication of what would happen to Sarfraz if he has to captain the team against quality opposition.

Make him play 15 ODIs against England and Australia in no time, and he would find himself on the brink.

 

[babajee]

Make him play 15 ODIs against England and Australia in no time, and he would find himself on the brink.

In the next year or so we have 5 match series coming up against Australia, England and South Africa. What if, nauzubillah, we manage to do well?

 

[ManFan]

Sethi also advised Napoleon at Waterloo, Einstein on his theory of relativity, and Trump on handling his controversies.

 

[ManFan]

In the next year or so we have 5 match series coming up against Australia, England and South Africa. What if, nauzubillah, we manage to do well?

Sarfraz has won 2 out of 2 against ENG.

Sarfraz has won 1 out of 1 against SA.

 

[BreadPakoda]

Najam Sethi is a loud mouth but he’s been a great administrator and a fair guy. If he’s honest with this comment then further kudos to him as Sarfu is the best leader Pakistan can have right now in every format. Good combo of aggression and street smartness.

 

[MMHS]

Might be true actually, but these type of political stunt wasn’t required.

Shahriar is a polished civil servant and their training, grooming is like that - more than technical qualities, these people values discipline, polishness, chain of command .... most importantly obedience.

Besides, last time SK had to leave PCB office as an aftermath of the acts of his the then Captain - no wonder Azhar & Misbah would be his top choices for Captaincy.

But, Sethi guy talks too much, a legacy he is proudly carrying for office bearer of PCB Chairman(s).

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

How many statements does he give per day?

 

[Saj]

The Azhar Ali comments are not necessary.

Really uncalled for comments on one of his senior Test players and also a dig at the previous PCB Chairman.

 

[Mamoon]

In the next year or so we have 5 match series coming up against Australia, England and South Africa. What if, nauzubillah, we manage to do well?

Then it will mean that the team has made great progress. However, I was told the same before the New Zealand ODI series, and I still maintain what I said back then. This team is nowhere near good enough to beat the likes of India, Australia, England and New Zealand in a series.

Yes it can win the odd game every now and then, but the said teams will win 7/10 times at the very least. The gulf in caliber is huge.

 

[babajee]

Then it will mean that the team has made great progress. However, I was told the same before the New Zealand ODI series, and I still maintain what I said back then. This team is nowhere near good enough to beat the likes of India, Australia, England and New Zealand in a series.

Yes it can win the odd game every now and then, but the said teams will win 7/10 times at the very least. The gulf in caliber is huge.

I agree, with Azhar, Malik and Hafeez it is not good enough and we saw that in NZ.

We would come back with a 3-2 to NZ at least if we went back to New Zealand without them. One of the main reasons we lost 5-0 was because Babar had a shocker.

 

[MoJoJoJo]

Then it will mean that the team has made great progress. However, I was told the same before the New Zealand ODI series, and I still maintain what I said back then. This team is nowhere near good enough to beat the likes of India, Australia, England and New Zealand in a series.

Yes it can win the odd game every now and then, but the said teams will win 7/10 times at the very least. The gulf in caliber is huge.

you cannot expect pak to win while carrying the likes of azhar,hafeez and to some extent malik.. replace these guys with haris,talat, asif ali and u will witness the change for sure..

fakhar
babar
haris
sarf
talat
malik
shadab
fahim
hasan
amir
junaid

-- i think this xi is on par with nz, aus in LOIs if not eng,ind,saf..

 

[MoJoJoJo]

asia cup, nz,aus and saf series are from sep to jan next year in the time of just 5 months.. these 5 months will tell where pak is standing and will answer most of the questions like sarfi's captaincy and calliber of current pak unit..

 

[Kroll]

The Azhar Ali comments are not necessary.

Really uncalled for comments on one of his senior Test players and also a dig at the previous PCB Chairman.

These guys never learn, talk about throwing one of your main players under the bus.

 

[Hamza_]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] 's post is absolutely spot on. Specially last part

 

[srh]

In the next year or so we have 5 match series coming up against Australia, England and South Africa. What if, nauzubillah, we manage to do well?

awesome reply )

 

[Syed1]

"Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan"

 

[Savak]

The Azhar Ali comments are not necessary.

Really uncalled for comments on one of his senior Test players and also a dig at the previous PCB Chairman.

I think it is on record that back then Misbah ul Haq and Waqar Younis strongly backed and recommended Azhar Ali as captain in 2015. I wonder why does no one take them to task for what turned out to be a poor decision?

Shahryar Khan has on many occasions proven to be a weak administrator who could not take strong gutsy decisions. Had it not been for Sethi, the PSL would never have happened certainly not under Syk who clearly did not have the stomach to deal with the risks involved.

 

[Saj]

I think it is on record that back then Misbah ul Haq and Waqar Younis strongly backed and recommended Azhar Ali as captain in 2015. I wonder why does no one take them to task for what turned out to be a poor decision?

Shahryar Khan has on many occasions proven to be a weak administrator who could not take strong gutsy decisions. Had it not been for Sethi, the PSL would never have happened certainly not under Syk who clearly did not have the stomach to deal with the risks involved.

What's PSL got to do with his comments regarding Azhar Ali as skipper?

 

[Gubol123]

I didn't see anyohne supporting the poor guy when he was losing 2-0 to SL or 5-0 to NZ.. Now everyone knows...

 

[Shafi]

Hopefully its the end of Azhar in ODI.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

I agree, with Azhar, Malik and Hafeez it is not good enough and we saw that in NZ.

We would come back with a 3-2 to NZ at least if we went back to New Zealand without them. One of the main reasons we lost 5-0 was because Babar had a shocker.

exactly that showed what happens if the prime batsman or the mainstay batsman has an off series.

A good team should have atleast three babar.. This is why India still survives outside Asia, but they should also find their next kohli, rohit and dhawan soon if not they will be back into the 90s side...It is also a reason Dhoni and Ganguly are better leaders that India had in the last 18 years, they had a vision for the future..

 

[ask_analyse_act]

asia cup, nz,aus and saf series are from sep to jan next year in the time of just 5 months.. these 5 months will tell where pak is standing and will answer most of the questions like sarfi's captaincy and calliber of current pak unit..

followed by eng as well just before the CWC

 

[SensiblePakFan]

Pointless Statement. Lol plus its not like Sarfaraz is a great captain, Sarfaraz has many issues and for me he is very much an on top captain, I have seen him lose it against his team mates and himself when the going gets tough, when the opposition is counterpunching powerfully and he just doesn't recover well with his field placements and bowling changes and his body language goes for a toss as well. A lot to improve on.

so you would rather have lost the CT than, if azhar was captain