What's new

Is Sarfaraz Ahmed the worst captain Pakistan have had?

I don't understand this constant opposition against Sarfaraz. The following are his achievements as captain:

1. Champion's Trophy win, and biggest final winning margin that too against India
2. Drawn test series against England in England
3. First Asian side to win a T20 series against NZ in NZ
4. Beat England in England in a one-off T20 match (no easy feat)
5. Smashed Australia just yesterday
6. Risen from number 7 rank in T20s to number 1
7. Risen from number 9 rank in ODIs to number 5
8. Absolutely mauling of SL and WI on a regular basis (remember we were struggling to beat them recently)



I have no doubt in my mind had anyone else achieved even half of this they would be singing his praises. This has led me to the conclusion that majority of the opposition against Sarfaraz is because of how he looks and where he hails from.
 
My mistake. I'm neither a genius not a nerd so I didn't have 20 names off the top of my head. I went with experiental memory of all the cricket I have seen And I knew I had seen at least 20 keepers whom I have seen do better than Sarfraz, factoring in the overall increase in fitness level cricket has seen globally in recent times.

Anyway coming to the point, I misread the list and interchanged Dilshan with Timesheet Kaluwitharana, whom I admit I haven't seen a lot of since he has over 350 dismissals against Sarfaraz's 175ish (?) so I felt it is only justified to rate the man who has twice as many international dismissals.

Your list is still wrong because you have either not watched the keeping of Bairstow, Mushfiq, and Wade who have dropped dollies or you are just too stubborn to admit that you made up that list without any evidence.

Sarfraz is not athletic but he's a very safe keeper. He seldom drops a catch and Pakistan is yet to lose a match because of his keeping.

He is not in the best of shape but Healey was neither, though he is one of the greatest keepers of all time. A lot of posters will rate Bari over Latif even though the former was less athletic, he was extremely safe behind the wickets.

Spectacular catches etc do not define how good a keeper is. There are several other factors you have to consider. Even Sarfraz has taken some good catches, the Malan one was spectacular in the last series.
 
to answer the question in recent years Salman Butt was the worst cuptaan we have had..followed by Moyo and Shoaib Malik.
 
I am assuming you will at least not have any problem in agreeing that the top 10 are easily all better keepers, right? So let's come to the next 10.

It's simple. They were all more athletic and agile and many were safer catchers simply because they were athletic enough to take a catch in front of 1st slip by diving when there's no 1st slip in place. I have seen Matthew Wade throw up on the field twice under the scorching Indian in 2017. I think it was the Ranchi test. The heat was too much even for the Indian batters. And a few overs after he threw up he took the best catch of the series by a keeper of a fast bowler. If you can find it somewhere, check it out. That kind of commitment to the craft of wicket keeping deserves to be rated higher than many, certainly Sarfraz.

Tim Paine is widely considered the best keeper in Australia. And it shows. He's a classical Aussie test keeper. Not a great bat but an agile and very safe keeper. Prior and Watling are tried and tested players and their home countries are 2 of the toughest places for keepers to keep to pace bowling. For a guy so short I have seen Tatenda Taibu grab chances that Sarfraz simply cannot reach.

Similarly I have seen certain things in the players in that list which is simply lacking in Sarfraz.

These lists are always personal opinion because there are just so many variables. But this is what I have felt after watching cricket since I was a kid. Nothing more. Nothing less.

And like I said, he's a great package deal for a wicket keeping batsman who's also a captain across all 3 formats. That's a hell of a tough job.

Many of you here, (including me) agree that while Dhoni is still a great leader and keeper, he's not the batsman he used to be. It's same case for Sarfraz. I think he's a great leader, a decent batsman across formats but his fielding, especially in recent years have simply gone off the rails.

The wicketkeeper of the team shouldn't look like the most unfit player on the field most of the time. That just doesn't work in today's game anymore. And he is at the age where players are usually physically at their prime. Instead this is the most unfit I have ever seen him. That's why I made my judgements. Of course you may disagree.

But I think one thing we can agree on is that he has certainly not been among the top 13-15 keepers during his playing career.
With all due respect mate, this is all based on personal opinion. The likes of Wade might seem better to you, but to me Sarfraz is a better wicket-keeper than a lot of the keepers in your list. His fitness levels looks wise has made him enemy number one for his fans, since I don't see his current fitness levels hampering his performance levels compared to before. I believe he has a good chance of retiring as the best wicket-keeper Pakistan has ever produced. For all the hue and cry, Moin and Latif had under-achieved in their careers. Kamran Akmal destroyed himself. Sarfraz will go down in the record books and there's really nothing his haters can do about that
 
With all due respect mate, this is all based on personal opinion. The likes of Wade might seem better to you, but to me Sarfraz is a better wicket-keeper than a lot of the keepers in your list. His fitness levels looks wise has made him enemy number one for his fans, since I don't see his current fitness levels hampering his performance levels compared to before. I believe he has a good chance of retiring as the best wicket-keeper Pakistan has ever produced. For all the hue and cry, Moin and Latif had under-achieved in their careers. Kamran Akmal destroyed himself. Sarfraz will go down in the record books and there's really nothing his haters can do about that

I think a lot of posters are too young to remember that Moin was a below average keeper who dropped regulation catches even in his 20s. The only reason he was picked over Latif was due to his batting.
 
I don't understand this constant opposition against Sarfaraz. The following are his achievements as captain:

1. Champion's Trophy win, and biggest final winning margin that too against India
2. Drawn test series against England in England
3. First Asian side to win a T20 series against NZ in NZ
4. Beat England in England in a one-off T20 match (no easy feat)
5. Smashed Australia just yesterday
6. Risen from number 7 rank in T20s to number 1
7. Risen from number 9 rank in ODIs to number 5
8. Absolutely mauling of SL and WI on a regular basis (remember we were struggling to beat them recently)

I think Sarfaraz is fine as captain but you have set the bar too low, especially with number 5. We smashed a second string Australia in a dead rubber T20 which is hardly an achievement. Only the first 2 you can say are major achievements. The third is decent too but after that I think you're just going a bit over the top. Yes, that England team is a great team but at the end of the day, no one will remember the result of a one off T20. And number 5 ranking in ODI is hardly anything to write home about.
 
I think Sarfaraz is fine as captain but you have set the bar too low, especially with number 5. We smashed a second string Australia in a dead rubber T20 which is hardly an achievement. Only the first 2 you can say are major achievements. The third is decent too but after that I think you're just going a bit over the top. Yes, that England team is a great team but at the end of the day, no one will remember the result of a one off T20. And number 5 ranking in ODI is hardly anything to write home about.

It is alot to write home about when just a little while back you were number 9 and struggling to automatically qualify for WC. People forget the hard times very easily.
 
It is alot to write home about when just a little while back you were number 9 and struggling to automatically qualify for WC. People forget the hard times very easily.

Okay but for ODI's we haven't played amazing cricket to get up to number 5. In the CT we were amazing but our only bilateral series wins under him in ODI's have been against mediocre teams. I do think our ODI team is improving though, but I hardly believe that the number 5 ODI ranking is anything to be happy about. The CT win though is just amazing, puts a smile on my face all the time I think about it :)
 
With all due respect mate, this is all based on personal opinion. The likes of Wade might seem better to you, but to me Sarfraz is a better wicket-keeper than a lot of the keepers in your list. His fitness levels looks wise has made him enemy number one for his fans, since I don't see his current fitness levels hampering his performance levels compared to before. I believe he has a good chance of retiring as the best wicket-keeper Pakistan has ever produced. For all the hue and cry, Moin and Latif had under-achieved in their careers. Kamran Akmal destroyed himself. Sarfraz will go down in the record books and there's really nothing his haters can do about that

Yes of course something like this is personal opinion. It will always be subjective. I wrote that in my post too.

And I am not a Sarfraz-hater at all. I have a lot of respect for the guy and consider him to be one of the greatest captains in the game currently.

It is just my honest opinion that his keeping is not upto international standards given how far fielding quality and fitness has come in recent times.
 
Your list is still wrong because you have either not watched the keeping of Bairstow, Mushfiq, and Wade who have dropped dollies or you are just too stubborn to admit that you made up that list without any evidence.

Sarfraz is not athletic but he's a very safe keeper. He seldom drops a catch and Pakistan is yet to lose a match because of his keeping.

He is not in the best of shape but Healey was neither, though he is one of the greatest keepers of all time. A lot of posters will rate Bari over Latif even though the former was less athletic, he was extremely safe behind the wickets.

Spectacular catches etc do not define how good a keeper is. There are several other factors you have to consider. Even Sarfraz has taken some good catches, the Malan one was spectacular in the last series.

I have given enough anecdotal evidence in my earlier posts and have also been open-minded enough to say that this is a matter of personal opinion.

You are free to disagree with me but you have no right to tell me my opinion is "wrong" or any of the other rubbish accusations you threw at me, because your stand on this is also a matter of personal opinion. Nothing more.

If you can objectively prove to me that Sarfraz is a better keeper, then to come and tell me I am wrong. Till then, let's keep an environment where personal opinions are respected, okay?
 
How does the worst captain win Champions Trophy and take T20 team to no 1 in rankings?

This. Bit unfair to Sarfaraz. A good captain uses what he has and if he can’t get a team together and execute his plans then I would agree with all the rubbish everyone talks about him.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Gohar Ali and Umair Masood are better wicket keeper batsmen than Sarfaraz in T20 format. They should be given chances in T20s so that they can be ready until 2020 T20 WC and can replace Sarfaraz from other formats when he retires. But this kind of long term planning is not what you expect from PCB.

Maybe they could become better, but there is no evidence whatsoever for this, so far. There is nothing wrong with building bench strength, and surely they and other promising keepers should be encouraged, but there is no replacement available for Sarfraz yet, by any stretch of the imagination.
 
Another embarrassing performance from a club level cricketer. Hopefully this will be the end of Sarfraz and we can put this shambles behind us.
 
I don't understand this constant opposition against Sarfaraz. The following are his achievements as captain:

1. Champion's Trophy win, and biggest final winning margin that too against India
2. Drawn test series against England in England
3. First Asian side to win a T20 series against NZ in NZ
4. Beat England in England in a one-off T20 match (no easy feat)
5. Smashed Australia just yesterday
6. Risen from number 7 rank in T20s to number 1
7. Risen from number 9 rank in ODIs to number 5
8. Absolutely mauling of SL and WI on a regular basis (remember we were struggling to beat them recently)



I have no doubt in my mind had anyone else achieved even half of this they would be singing his praises. This has led me to the conclusion that majority of the opposition against Sarfaraz is because of how he looks and where he hails from.


So if you criticise him it’s because of where he is from, but if you defend him it’s for cricketing reasons? :)))
 
Sarfraz as captain is as pathetic as moin khan was. Home test defeats vs SL and NZ in manner we lost is inexcusable.
 
Not great unfortunately. The bigger problem is his poor performance which makes criticism more easy.
 
Attack Sarfraz for his baating . No way you can attack his keeping or captaincy. He has been doing good captaincy but unfortunately leading a team of dud batsmen which now includes himself on current form.
 
Attack Sarfraz for his baating . No way you can attack his keeping or captaincy. He has been doing good captaincy but unfortunately leading a team of dud batsmen which now includes himself on current form.

Simpletons have difficulty differentiating between the two.
 
Sarfraz needs to be dropped from all 3 formats. He's getting worse and worse with the bat and his captaincy is nothing special.
 
Worst captain ever.an awful batsman one of the worst to play the game and less said about his captaincy is better.can only yell at junior players and keeping his friends are two of his captaincy qualities. Should have been kicked out a long time ago
 
He did not deserve to oversee the Champions Trophy fluke. He got unbelievably lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
 
If another pak captain has taken his team from 1st to 8th, if not then safraz is the worst captain pak has had.
 
PP is always extreme- if somehow bowlers defend 148 tomorrow other group will come back here and insult Imran.

I think, he is a better Captain than a player - that means, he is in the team as Captain and if he is sacked as captain, won’t last in squad, let alone playing XI for any format. Don’t think there is any outstanding captaincy material which makes him somewhat acceptable for LOs, but his individual performance is costing team.

In Test, he is probably as misfit captain as Malik was. Malik was street smart as captain but absolutely didn’t add anything as a player; Sarfraz at least keeping for the team but not the sharpest tool to lead a Test side.

Overall in last 35 years, among all Test captains, he has to be within the bunch of Rameez, WY, MoYo, Afridi & Azhar. An alarming count for less than 25 years period, which actually suggests PCB’s choice for Test Captaincy wasn’t always the brightest one.
 
The worst captain we ever had happen to be M Yousuf, then we had afridi, waqar younis, azhar ali who were all terrible.Even Moin khan,Lateef and Inzi were not bright captains.
 
Don't know how Sarfaraz can look team in eye after his spineless batting performance in this Test.
 
Don't know how Sarfaraz can look team in eye after his spineless batting performance in this Test.

And thats why his captaincy will remain poor.Had he been performing, his captaincy would have been somewhat better.
 
The worst captain we ever had happen to be M Yousuf, then we had afridi, waqar younis, azhar ali who were all terrible.Even Moin khan,Lateef and Inzi were not bright captains.

You are right, but do you see an alarming issue in that?

As I also mentioned, MoYo, WI, Inzi, Azhar were not the sharpest tools, neither Sarfraz - but the problem is all 4 are PAK legends, first 3 are ATGs to be honest or very close to it. Sarfraz may be an ATG in Karachi club cricket, and a legend among his buddies ....
 
Recent times:
5 moin khan
4 Salman butt
3 waqar younis
2 M Yousaf
1 undisputed Sarfraz
 
Sarfrazs appointment as skipper reminds me of when NZ had lee Germon as captain, wasnt worth a place in side on merit but was made captain of it!

The sooner sarfraz is dropped from test and ODIs the better.
 
Sarfrazs appointment as skipper reminds me of when NZ had lee Germon as captain, wasnt worth a place in side on merit but was made captain of it!

The sooner sarfraz is dropped from test and ODIs the better.

Changing captains isn't going to do anything.
 
Changing captains isn't going to do anything.

Not changing captains will also not do anything.

Tbh, it's really embarrassing to have Safraz as Pakistan. He does not have the physical or mental stature to lead Pakistan. He hardly performs and has not even bothered to learn English. He should not be representing Pakistan. So bad that we want from cricketers who were Oxford graduates, MBA graduates to people like Safraz who have issues communicating. He needs to go!
 
Not changing captains will also not do anything.

Tbh, it's really embarrassing to have Safraz as Pakistan. He does not have the physical or mental stature to lead Pakistan. He hardly performs and has not even bothered to learn English. He should not be representing Pakistan. So bad that we want from cricketers who were Oxford graduates, MBA graduates to people like Safraz who have issues communicating. He needs to go!

From 2009 to 2018 you've had -

Shoaib Malik
Younis Khan
Mohammad Yousuf
Shahid Afridi
Misbah Ul Haq
Azhar Ali
Sarfraz Ahmed

as your captains and removing them didn't do a damn thing.
 
From 2009 to 2018 you've had -

Shoaib Malik
Younis Khan
Mohammad Yousuf
Shahid Afridi
Misbah Ul Haq
Azhar Ali
Sarfraz Ahmed

as your captains and removing them didn't do a damn thing.

Pakistan were performing well under Misbah, Malik and Y Khan.
 
Pakistan were performing well under Misbah, Malik and Y Khan.
You need to brush up on your history. We were thrashed as brutally under Misbah on away tours. Had a good UAE record because of YK and Ajmal, who were world class players at the top of their game.

Sarfraz is a terrible test captain though.
 
Worst Test Captain for sure. His competition is with Malik, MoYo, WY & Afridi. Malik was far better Captain while similar level as player; MoYo & WY were at pet with captaincy but shouldn’t be uttered in same sentence as a player.

Only left is Afridi, but he had much bigger personality and on field presence. And no sruprise both are backed by Bhakhts, however Afridi bhakts never hide like this Sarfraz Bhakts because Afridi always kept them afloat with performance here and there, so bhakts had a defence.
 
Sarfaraz has dissapointingly proven that 10 plus years of domestic cricket captaincy means nothing in international cricket. Australia are going through the same phase with Tim Paine as captain.
 
Nah. I think Moyo and definitely Waqar Younis were worse captains. Atleast in tests. Also Afridi, Malik etc. Sarfraz is nothing special. As long as you don't expect him to replicate CT 17 results in the test format you're good. Pakistan are not losing because they have a bad captain in tests. It's because you are just not good enough when you have utterly useless, incompetent, ageing chokers like Asad Shafiq in your lineup. Even Sarfraz atleast tries to score runs under pressure unlike this guy who is the emperor of soft, impactless runs and can't even score a lot of those.
 
Pakistan were performing well under Misbah, Malik and Y Khan.

No they weren't, lmao. They won more often but the issues were still there and we had short term fixes but nothing long term... Hence our situation currently.
 
Pakistan won the CT17 for the first time under Sarafraz. We have never won ut under any captain before so cant say hes crap. Under Misbah we did good in test but not ODI AND T20s
 
I dont know about worse, but he is really bad. He is overweight, lacks confidence and common sense as a captain.

No point replacing him now, stick with him until the world cup and just hope he improves.
 
I don't understand this constant opposition against Sarfaraz. The following are his achievements as captain:

1. Champion's Trophy win, and biggest final winning margin that too against India
2. Drawn test series against England in England
3. First Asian side to win a T20 series against NZ in NZ
4. Beat England in England in a one-off T20 match (no easy feat)
5. Smashed Australia just yesterday
6. Risen from number 7 rank in T20s to number 1
7. Risen from number 9 rank in ODIs to number 5
8. Absolutely mauling of SL and WI on a regular basis (remember we were struggling to beat them recently)



I have no doubt in my mind had anyone else achieved even half of this they would be singing his praises. This has led me to the conclusion that majority of the opposition against Sarfaraz is because of how he looks and where he hails from.
Either this or we are still in the 1990 mode expecting high-octane superlative performances with the bat and ball which is not happening at the moment.:wa:moyo
 
I dont know about worse, but he is really bad. He is overweight, lacks confidence and common sense as a captain.

No point replacing him now, stick with him until the world cup and just hope he improves.

There is no one to replace him and with the WC around the corner it would have devastating consequences for the morale of the team
 
For Pakistan standards, Sarfraz is an ok captain.

Guys like Inzi, Waqar, and even Misbah have been far worse at various times. (for the misbah *******, look at how he treated Yasir on the tour of aussie).
 
There is no one to replace him and with the WC around the corner it would have devastating consequences for the morale of the team

Such stupid thinking is why pakistan cricket goes backwards. How would removing a passenger captain hurt morale? Are we going to win world cup with sarfraz.
 
As a whole I feel we have been very harsh on Sarfu. It’s not his fault that his team isn’t a team carrying Pant or Pujara. He has to lead a bunch of hacks and also focus on captaining and also playing the wicket keeper role. It’s no easy task. Along with this he does this day in and out with the other two formats as well. We keep forgetting that he single handed won us the ct2017 trophy.

Has Any of the past captain besides Imran won Pakistan anything notable to boast. I challenge anyone here for a good answer. I don’t even want to think of the dark ages during Misbahs time.

Now if the team was carrying Saud, Saad, and Rizwan the outcome would be very different about now. If anything Sarfaraz at this point is the only person in the team who is playing with any passion and heart.
 
As a whole I feel we have been very harsh on Sarfu. It’s not his fault that his team isn’t a team carrying Pant or Pujara. He has to lead a bunch of hacks and also focus on captaining and also playing the wicket keeper role. It’s no easy task. Along with this he does this day in and out with the other two formats as well. We keep forgetting that he single handed won us the ct2017 trophy.

Has Any of the past captain besides Imran won Pakistan anything notable to boast. I challenge anyone here for a good answer. I don’t even want to think of the dark ages during Misbahs time.

Now if the team was carrying Saud, Saad, and Rizwan the outcome would be very different about now. If anything Sarfaraz at this point is the only person in the team who is playing with any passion and heart.


You do realize that your cover has been blown months ago and you yourself started posting as an Indian.... can't just dial it back and start posting like a "Pakistani" again and think people won't remember :yk
 
Such stupid thinking is why pakistan cricket goes backwards. How would removing a passenger captain hurt morale? Are we going to win world cup with sarfraz.
Removing him is brilliant thinking according to you?Yes you still have a wonderful chance to win the World-Cup with him as captain.Knee-Jerk reactions will only do more harm to the team.
 
Purely from a tactical perspective, he is rubbish but a lot of other captains have been rubbish as well.

As an overall package, i.e. individual performance, personality, stature etc., he is the worst by some distance.

Frankly speaking, it is very embarrassing to see someone like him lead the team. Nothing illustrates our decline better.
 
Captaining in Test cricket is the real deal, the true test and it shows how good a captain really is.

Sadly the evidence is there for all to see and digest.
 
Do Pakistani fans only speak in hyperbole or do they have memories of goldfish?

Mohammad Yousuf was terrible. He literally threw away a test win in Sydney. Destroyed Fawad Alam's test career. Left the team in such dire straights that Afridi had to become the test captain. He lost 6 of the 9 tests he captained in.

Salman Butt. Lasted 5 tests. Made sure our two best quick bowlers got 5 year bans each. Has a lower test career average than public enemy number one.

Sarfraz is pretty terrible but nowhere near as bad as those two.
 
Sarfaraz captaincy once again under the limelight - at the moment, the team looking flat as if waiting for the overs to finish
 
Terrible captain he is in my opinion. He lacks courage to play genuine fast bowlers. Amir and Hasnain can easily slot in for Faheem and Yasir and that would have been a strong bowling attack
 
Other than CT 17 and few T20 victories we have lost almost everything under him. Not a fan of the team management either.
 
Bad captaincy.... but can't blame him when selectors give him bowlers like Shah and Rana.
 
He is by far the worst captain.He can't bat he can't keep and he can't lead the team either. Absolutely pathetic useless player who keeps playing his buddies.
 
Main culprit is Inzi to select his favorites, Then Micky the drama queen yes man and then Sarfraz.
 
Bad captaincy.... but can't blame him when selectors give him bowlers like Shah and Rana.

He looks the same as Yasir, like he's carrying a belly full of fried treats. Either these captains are clueless or they are picking their mates so they can enjoy touring England's curry joints during their brief world cup campaign.
 
A good captain first needs to be in the team on merit, not due to corruption. If a player isn't good enough to be in the team then how can he be a good captain? He contributes next to nothing with the bat.

Sarfraz and Malik are garbage players, if not for corruption they would not be in the team, so they possibly can not be good captains-in fact they should be at the very bottom of the list. The title of this thread is not an exaggeration.
 
I would love to find out after Sarfraz abou that TURRUM KHAN hiding and waiting to replace him.
 
He looks the same as Yasir, like he's carrying a belly full of fried treats. Either these captains are clueless or they are picking their mates so they can enjoy touring England's curry joints during their brief world cup campaign.
A captain with that belly can hardly implement fitness standards from other team mates.
 
Sarffaz is also a mediocre captain who fights solely on jazba but he is not the problem rather its the rubbish selection like Imad Yasir am Malik etc who are leeching this team
 
Back
Top