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Mohammad Hafeez should be ODI captain & the next Test captain

Saj

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There I said it :)

Seriously I've always rated him as a good captain and someone who I think is a thinking captain.

I was suprised he resigned as captain earlier in his career.

Personally I think he would make a good choice as the next Test captain and in my opinion he should have been the ODI captain ahead of Azhar Ali.
 
Hold on please, he is not a test player, what exactly he has done to get a test recall, this is over reaction. Keep him at ODI. There are better and younger candidates for tests and nothing wrong with Azhar as test captain.
 
I think if he accepts his role as being one of an off spinner who can bat then yes. Otherwise he is a liability in the top order. Should have been gone in the first over today
 
Lets all jump the ship shall we. Hafeez doesn't make the test Xi. Today he struggled big time, over half his runs came off edges, being bounced, nicking off to third man. He only opened up once the ball got a bit older. Where's he going to bat in Tests. Ive spoken to some friends who know Hafeez and they've said he considers himself an opener and has always opened. He has never thought of batting down the order, so he certainly wont bat at 6 as a captain.

Knee-jerk reaction.
 
His batting will always be an issue.

But after Wasim's era he and Younus are the only strategical thinkers we have had. It's sad for a big country like Pakistan. So in a way I can understand your support for Hafeez. But people will be after him after a few golden ducks or a lean patch. In that regard not the most wise decision.

To solve the issue in long term Sarfraz might be the best option.
 
wooooooooooooooah slow down. He should be nowhere near the test side as a player let alone captain. He won't be a bad choice for 50 over captain but test captain is really bizarre after just one match
 
There I said it :)

Seriously I've always rated him as a good captain and someone who I think is a thinking captain.

I was suprised he resigned as captain earlier in his career.

Personally I think he would make a good choice as the next Test captain and in my opinion he should have been the ODI captain ahead of Azhar Ali.

If he wins the ODI series in Australia, that could easily be the case for ODI captaincy atleast !! Winning a single ODI won't matter alot - especially if Aus thrash us in next ODIs

Handing over Test captaincy to Hafeez is a dangerous thing in case he not willing to bat in lower order. Sami Aslam and Azhar Ali are regular Test openers at the moment and Sharjeel Khan is also in the mix after his Test debut. Mickey Arthur is keen on establishing Babar Azam as No. 3 in all formats - as this will give batting order the much needed stability. Younis Khan is No. 4 and Misbah is No. 5 and Asad is trusted No. 6. When Misbah retires, No. 5 batting slot will be empty. Will Hafeez be willing to demote himself to No. 5 position?
 
Hafeez or Sarfaraz ? Who should lead the side ? I am not too sure....
 
I think he will be an average test captain.. From what i have seen his captaincy style isnt suited for tests.

He will be a very good LOI captain but i want a youngster like imad being made the Captain.
 
Don't mind Hafeez as a stopgap captain though Sarfraz is the ideal choice. But Hafeez has to realize he cannot keep masquerading as an opener or a top order batsman. He is mainly a bowler. He should bat in the lower order.
 
There I said it :)

Seriously I've always rated him as a good captain and someone who I think is a thinking captain.

I was suprised he resigned as captain earlier in his career.

Personally I think he would make a good choice as the next Test captain and in my opinion he should have been the ODI captain ahead of Azhar Ali.

It'll be Malik like mistake - making someone Test Captain who doesn't merit a spot in XI. Ideally, YK should be made Test Captain for 17 months, with a young deputy (My choice was always Amir) & MoHa can be made ODI Captain with Amir/Imad a s deputy.
 
There I said it :)

Seriously I've always rated him as a good captain and someone who I think is a thinking captain.

I was suprised he resigned as captain earlier in his career.

Personally I think he would make a good choice as the next Test captain and in my opinion he should have been the ODI captain ahead of Azhar Ali.

agree to some extent.

he's easily been the best captain we have seen across the formats in recent times. its a sign of weakness though that he couldnt take the media/fan pressure, as idiotic and misplaced as it was, after they fell out of that world cup. stupid fans and even more stupid media have a lot to answer for.

another problem is that he's a generally mediocre cricketer, and there will always be a concern that he might be called again for his bowling which is essential to his selection. he has justified his selection despite that, because so many other players have been sub-mediocre.

but as a limited overs captain, he was excellent. tactically ok, but from a point of view of man management, standing up for his players and fostering a busy team working ethic, i think he was ideal.

he's one of the rare men of integrity and dignity in our set up.
 
I disagree,would prefer a young(er) captain like Sarfraz.

Sarfraz is not younger - in fact, by role profile, he is older than MoHa. My logic is simple - more or less Marsh, Knott, Hilley, Doujon, Kirmani ... retired 5/6 years younger than Border, Lloyd, Viv, Gooch, Tendulkar or Dravid did. So, from physically job fit perspective, Sarfy is actually at same age of MoHa & older than Malik.
 
I agree for ODIS - he's a good enough batsman and his bowling is handy for this format.

However I'm not sure about Tests - still too many question marks regarding his place.
 
Azhar would be just fine as a test captain, he has impressed me a lot with his mental strength during current tour with his performance in test series. Only world class test player in our team at the moment , experienced, good communication skill and above all , mentally strong and otherwise calm person. Checks all the dots for test captaincy.
 
He does not have a place in the team, why he should be Captain.

Pakistan needs to goback to making bowlers Captains, they are naturally aggressive and you need Captain mostly on field, bowlers know lot more about that than batsmen.

Immad or Amir is good choice for ODI and Amir or Yasir for test. Pakistan is not going to get venom back unless they pick the right leader. Batsman as Captain does not work, it has failed us in last 10-12 years.
 
He doesn't earn a spot on tests so not in that format. In Odis I would go with Sarfraz
 
I've always rated him highly too, but if he has another issue with his bowling action - his batting isn't good enough to demand the captaincy tbh.

What we've seen now is that the both times Sarfraz took over from Azhar Ali, Pakistan played with more aggression in the field and batting.Now Hafeez takes over and Pakistan win pretty comfortably.

The issues are still there. The lack of rotation of strike is infuriating, the stupid ways we seem to have our batsmen get out is equally infuriating.

So a change of captain may not be the be-all-and-end-all, but it may just be the right direction.
 
Think Hafeez's captaincy is a little overrated here. He did well because the bowlers bowled well, and the management strategies I'm sure that were devised by captain and coach came through. Yes Hafeez captained well, but that's not to say another player won't captain well too. Hafeez is a better captain tactically than Azhar but that's kind of expected, has far more experience than Azhar.

I also think Hafeez's captaincy is more suited to LOI. He doesn't deserve a test spot either, we should have stuck with Sami Aslam though as opener, not Sharjeel who has done hardly anything in any format yet.

Sarfraz impressed me with his T20 captaincy, see no reason why he won't make a fine LOI captain. I'd give test captaincy to Azhar, see how he fares with it, if it doesn't work out give it to Sarfraz too.
 
Sarfraz is not younger - in fact, by role profile, he is older than MoHa. My logic is simple - more or less Marsh, Knott, Hilley, Doujon, Kirmani ... retired 5/6 years younger than Border, Lloyd, Viv, Gooch, Tendulkar or Dravid did. So, from physically job fit perspective, Sarfy is actually at same age of MoHa & older than Malik.

Great Kamran Akmal is still there and scoring runs at 34 something.
 
Hafeez, after banned twice from bowling will be a very cautious bowler, just enough to contain the runs in ODI, was never a test bowler and now even a lesser one. He is not a test batsman anyway.
 
Hold on please, he is not a test player, what exactly he has done to get a test recall, this is over reaction. Keep him at ODI. There are better and younger candidates for tests and nothing wrong with Azhar as test captain.

Well said

Hafeez is still a mediocre player, and he's 36

One ODI win and the jazbati Pakistanis want to give him the captain of all formats
 
Hafeez has his day but there is no doubt that Hafeez is a better ODI batsman than Azhar and deserves to be in the ODI side more than Azhar.

I agree with Saj. I think Pakistan should continue with him as an ODI captain till next world cup. Tests don't think so. Azhar deserves to be test captain after all his hard work.
 
I would play him as a 12th man captain! Is this even allowed? Sadly he is the best brain when it comes to captaincy but not good enough to be in either format.
 
If Hafeez manages to win this series then definitely no doubt. I agree I liked his captaincy better than Azhar and he is clearly the better captain. However, his place isn't merited and if he fails to perform he will eventually be dropped.
 
Not at all, I still have doubts over Hafeez's position in the ODI side, despite him doing well today, and he doesn't make the test team anyway.

Moreover Hafeez is a huge step backwards, a reason why Pakistan are still struggling is their lack of vision and planning for future. What purpose will it serve to make Hafeez as captain?

Pakistan needs to be very sure abut how they want to prepare for 2019, if Azhar Ali is the man then so be it, otherwise the change in captaincy has to happen now before the Champions Trophy, surely not Hafeez but they can consider Sarfaraz or Imad.
 
If we win this series, I'm down to have him as ODI captain and Sarfraz as VC till WC 2019.

Tests are different, though. He should stick to playing LOIs, while Sarfraz should be Test (and T20) captain.
 
His batting is only suited to flat phatta wickets.Don't deserves to be in the side as a batsman in this modern era.Today Pakistan was chasing a small total,so strike rate was not a big deal.But when chasing 250 plus,Hafeez make the required rate high.
 
Cricketing world is moving to another direction we in opposit direction. Do We really want to replace a 43 YO captain with a 36 year old with very questionable test credentials.

Just look at the captains of other test playing countries, India, NZL, Australia, SL, BD, WI, all have test captains in their 20s. Cook just in his early 30s going to be replaced by a younger one, Root. We have hard time getting rid of a 43 YO and talking about another 36 YO after his fluke performance in one ODI game.
 
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[MENTION=9]Saj[/MENTION] atleast didnt expect this from you , he has to cment his spot first , was lucky to get 2 catches dropped, let him first cement his place and even if he cements his place he shouldnt be made the captain, a 36 years old captain, In what direction are we heading, we call for a younger side for future and then all of a sudden calls for 36 years old captain start
 
Can be our Darren Sammy for tests -- there for the captaincy :)

I will take him any day of any week over Misbah, Azhar and Afridi, the latter two themselves never merited a place in the formats they captained.

He is easily the best off-spinner in the country atm, despite action issues.

His player choice at 2014 Wt20 was terrible, benching a youngster Sharjeel Khan for hapless ttf in Kami. Hope he never repeats such mindless choices though!
 
knee jerk reaction. Personally I back Azhar in pretty much most things but I think he should resign after this series and let sarfraz take over.We need Azhar as a batsman and he can always stand in when sarafraz is unfit or some other calamity. For tests I would let azhar do it..the test team should be slightly separate to the LOI teams..Hafeez should never have resigned..but too late now..
 
Lol before this game we were all discussing how Hafeez is a poor selection in the first place and with one game now there is a thread about him being captain. Firstly, we need to talk about Hafeez's selection in the team. He has mostly been a mediocre batsman throughout his career and I can not see that changing. He will score pretty 20s and 30s and get out. His bowling is still unproven post action change. 1 game will not tell u anything. But also, question is can Pakistan afford a captain who is a poor player?
 
hafeez can be a stopgap captain for a while only in ODIs... Let sarfraz learn more from hafeez' captaincy playing alongside him... Now sarfraz problem is RIZWAN keeping is excellent... he has taken all the catches especially the catches from spinners... Sarfraz like dropmal has dropped many and also was developing a pot belly like him... Sarfraz now have to concenterate more on his keeping to keep his place or else rizwan will soon take that...Give test captaincy to younis khan, ODI captaincy to hafeez and Let safraz deal with the T20Is for another 2 years..Pakistan will have more wins which I can guarantee across all formats...No place for hafeez in tests, he is not an opener in any format... Even today he would have been gone in the first over...I'm sure UA wont be as this bad a opener
 
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I'm not in favor of Sarfaraz being captain, wicket-keeper and critical cog in the batting line-up in all three formats.

That is just TOO much burden on any single person.

That being said both Hafeez and Azhar are huge liabilities with the bat. Catch 22 situation.
 
There I said it :)

Seriously I've always rated him as a good captain and someone who I think is a thinking captain.

I was suprised he resigned as captain earlier in his career.

Personally I think he would make a good choice as the next Test captain and in my opinion he should have been the ODI captain ahead of Azhar Ali.
Pakistan will never return to the top table as long as they keep picking skippers who aren't worth a place in the starting eleven.

And as long as they keep selecting old men.
 
Great Kamran Akmal is still there and scoring runs at 34 something.

KAkmal is 35 by end of next week & that's official 35. He'll keep scoring & keeping even at 45, again official 45 - that's the difference with Quaid E Azam style & international cricket. B
 
There I said it :)

Seriously I've always rated him as a good captain and someone who I think is a thinking captain.

I was suprised he resigned as captain earlier in his career.

Personally I think he would make a good choice as the next Test captain and in my opinion he should have been the ODI captain ahead of Azhar Ali.

Sorry but he should be nowhere near the Test squad.

Not good enough in swinging conditions.

You could make a case for his inclusion ODi's but he will only be a stopgap solution until Babar/Imad are ready.

He has to bat at no. 5 or below.
 
I'm not in favor of Sarfaraz being captain, wicket-keeper and critical cog in the batting line-up in all three formats.

That is just TOO much burden on any single person.

That being said both Hafeez and Azhar are huge liabilities with the bat. Catch 22 situation.

Hafeez is okay-ish in ODI's if he bats at 5 or below. We got lucky we were chasing 220 today or otherwise Hafeez would have panicked and got out early like he usually does.

I would say make Hafeez temporary captain in ODIs until 2019 WC and make Sarfraz captain in Tests. Make Babar captainin T20's and use that as a probation period for him to judge if he can be captain in ODI's too.
 
He is 36 and to be made captain? That's when cricketers retire and he should be given captaincy?I get that according to PCT standards he still has 4 years but still he doesn't yet merit a place in tests.

LOI is ok unless the plan is for 2019 WC then again he doesn't fit in as a captain.
 
Hafeez had no place in the test team and is not cut out to bat in top 3 in ODIs.

Did you guys actually how terrible was he with the bat until after 12-13 overs? a

And compare that how well was Sharjeel playing - I don't mean the strike rate - just middling the ball and not being beaten by every 3rd delivery.
 
Talk about knee jerk reactions one fluke win and we are over them moon Hafeez is a very limited cricketer particularly in Test cricket plus he us on wrong side of age not investing worthwhile
 
So you want him in the test team? On whose expanse? Sami failed in Australia but still should be persisted with and so is the case with Babar azam. Usman Salahuddin has made strides in domestic and is the prime candidate to replace misbah and later in the year we might see Harris sohail back as well. I don't really understand why we want to go back to hafeez.
 
There I said it :)

Seriously I've always rated him as a good captain and someone who I think is a thinking captain.

I was suprised he resigned as captain earlier in his career.

Personally I think he would make a good choice as the next Test captain and in my opinion he should have been the ODI captain ahead of Azhar Ali.
He is a better captain than any other candidate. But he is too stubborn and with seniority complex.
 
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