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No matter how bad Sarfaraz Ahmed has been as captain against New Zealand, we must stick with him

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htariq25

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As bad as sarfraz's captaincy has been in this series, I believe we should continue to back him. If we change captaincy now we could be in turmoil as far as world cup preparations are concerned as a new captain would take time to settle in and if he also fails then we will be in a mess. At least with sarfraz we know that he is at least a decent captain. He did win us a champions trophy despite the amount of luck involved in that event but it still isn't easy to win an icc event. Also, winning in new Zealand is no easy job like some posters seem to be suggesting. Teams as good as Australia and India have failed to win in new Zealand against new zealand so expecting us to win the series was always a bit too optimistic.
Sarfraz's captaincy wasn't even that bad in this series. It was the batsmen that failed us mostly even though our bowling was actually quite good. We lost this series because of opening problem, babars lack of scoring, middle order collapses. If we can sort out our opening problem and bring in a couple of good middle order batsmen like Hussain talat then I believe our team can become strong again.
 
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chalo suppose he has done a poor job tactically.. but is he the only one whose performance let down the team? is he responsible for the regular top order collapses throughout? one bad series and all knives are out for sarfraz but why people arent analysing the poor performances of our so called "senior experienced veterans"?.. even if you appoint steve waugh or imran khan as the captain of the same team, i can bet my life that still we wont be able to win with these senior duds against top teams regularly..
 
Sarfraz as a batsmen - like pretty much all of our top order he's failed miserably - no excuses

Sarfraz as captain - he's been reasonable this series, not CT great, but not horrible at all. He made the best of a weak squad given to him, and he used the bowlers generally well. Even tried to experiment with the batting a little bit. I was disappointed with his body language towards the end of the series - leaders can't show weakness, even when they are being beaten badly

agree with OPs point though - there is absolutely NO question Sarfraz is the best man for the captain job across formats

the problem in NZ was much bigger than any 1 or 2 people (I don't blame Inzi or Mickey ether) - its a systematic failure of Pakistan cricket. From overplaying of league cricket to poor domestic systems...
 
His captaincy is fine. His wicketkeeping although not great is passable. My main issue with Sarfraz is his fitness. Sets a bad example for the rest of the team. And impacts his batting, one of his main assets (or at least used to be) was picking up singles/rotating strike which is now hard for him given his fitness.
 
Nothing to worry in the short term. Sarfaraz is extremely well-supported by the media and the public. PCB or Inzamam would face a huge backlash and can bid half of their fortunes goodbye if they try to touch him or Arthur.

Issue is in the latter half of this year post England Tour. He has to solve the batting issue and phase out seniors from the side that is a huge challenge because PAkistan can't win with Hafeez, Akmals [Babar Azam], Wahab Riaz and Maliks in the team and our corrupt system gives seniors more advantage through various means to prolong their stay. Younis Khan messgae before the 4th odi was the key, he kind of warned and reminded Sarfaraz to not do the same mistakes Younis did in 2010 and allow the insecure seniors to revolt. Improve his batting form and fitness.

Pakistan albeit lost the series. They did not dropped 5-6 catches or looked clumsy in the field like PAkistan team of 2015/16 tour to New Zealand. Minus the seniors [MAlik, Azhar, Azam,Amir] Sarfaraz was able to motivate and extract contribution from the youngsters who were touring there for the first time.
Pakistan was successfully able to restrict a very dangerous NZ batting lineup in their home below 275 on 300 par pitches, twice. They learned and adapted quickly after the first match of how to strangulate New Zealand only they could'nt stop the cheeky singles and fast 2s NZ batsmen ran up until the 4th odi. Should've used more spin.
But he did good as a captain, we lost the series due to the seniors selected by Inzamam no one else is to blame for that.
 
Sarfaraz's captaincy is the least of the issues.

His batting, fitness and backing of filth like Azhar, Hafeez and Malik are the biggest issues.
 
htariq25 said:
As bad as sarfraz's captaincy has been in this series, I believe we should continue to back him. If we change captaincy now we could be in turmoil as far as world cup preparations are concerned as a new captain would take time to settle in and if he also fails then we will be in a mess. At least with sarfraz we know that he is at least a decent captain. He did win us a champions trophy despite the amount of luck involved in that event but it still isn't easy to win an icc event. Also, winning in new Zealand is no easy job like some posters seem to be suggesting. Teams as good as Australia and India have failed to win in new Zealand against new zealand so expecting us to win the series was always a bit too optimistic.
Sarfraz's captaincy wasn't even that bad in this series. It was the batsmen that failed us mostly even though our bowling was actually quite good. We lost this series because of opening problem, babars lack of scoring, middle order collapses. If we can sort out our opening problem and bring in a couple of good middle order batsmen like Hussain talat then I believe our team can become strong again.
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His captaincy isn't any issue - he is quite good at it. He is a liability with keeping, going through his worst patch as batsman, and he has double standard, both for yelling at and picking players in XI/squad. Before next WC, there are 4 major away series & one tournament, possibly in IND - if things doesn't improve drastically in those 4 issues, he'll be sacked and dropped forever, after PAK finishes between 8th to 10th in next WC.
 
Sarfraz's captaincy is fine. But if he doesn't improve his batting he could eventually expect to have captaincy taken away, or even his place in the team being at risk. He needs to improve, and quick, because I don't want his captaincy if he can't outscore tailenders or contribute anything noteworthy.
 
I can go along with Sarfraz as captain, as I think most would and would want to but the problem is, he is not learning. His tactics have been poor across formats and relied heavily on a handful of players performing individual magic. On top of all that, his attitude is terrible. It is a joke that he screams, shouts and rants at his team yet under performs himself .Drops catches regularly as keeper, can't buy a run and doesn't even back up properly at the wickets.

The only time a captain is allowed to be like that is if his performances are the best in the team and Sarfraz is far from that.
 
MMHS said:
His captaincy isn't any issue - he is quite good at it. He is a liability with keeping, going through his worst patch as batsman, and he has double standard, both for yelling at and picking players in XI/squad. Before next WC, there are 4 major away series & one tournament, possibly in IND - if things doesn't improve drastically in those 4 issues, he'll be sacked and dropped forever, after PAK finishes between 8th to 10th in next WC.
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Yes the same way you predicted that Pakistan would end up playing WC Qualifiers
 
What the hell? His captaincy has been very good.

We've bowled well in the last three games and were bowling well in the second game until rain came and interrupted the focus.
 
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Chief Destroyer said:
What the hell? His captaincy has been very good.

We've bowled well in the last three games and were bowling well in the second game until rain came and interrupted the focus.
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I agree, there was good bowling but what has that got to so with his captaincy? his field placements were ridiculous at times, at one stage there was a packed leg side field with the bowlers bowling an off stump/outside off line. Now ofc, it is the bowlers responsibility to bowl the correct line but not once did Sarfraz talk to his bowler to bowl the correct line, or bother changing the field to suit what his bowler was doing.

No communication = bad captaincy.

To add to that, when Guptill and co were dropping and running singles, he kept his fielders at the edge of the circle, when they started hitting boundaries, he brought them in to stop the single. It is reactive captaincy rather than pro-active, ala Ponting or Mccullum.
 
MMHS said:
Normally, I don't response to nonsense, but you are lying. Bring that post of mine regarding this or don't troll around.
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Playing the likes of Nepal ...... Why don't you bring it up yourself
 
We need to back Sarfraz right now, he is going through a rough patch right now we need to back him like how the Indians backed Kohli.
 
CadPakFan said:
We need to back Sarfraz right now, he is going through a rough patch right now we need to back him like how the Indians backed Kohli.
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Sarfraz is no kohli.... leave aside talent, you will not find kohli turning up for a tour fat and unfit! That too as a captain.
 
He should not be a certainty to captain Pakistan in the next world cup.

He has too many issues. Keeping players on their toes by hurling weird comments in the field seems to be his greatest skill as a captain. Turning up unfit and batting poorly when he had opportunities to stand up as skipper are just added extras on top of his average captaincy.

I dont think he can take the pressure of being captain of Pakistan esp since now more is expected after the CT.

Fakhar Zaman [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] should be considered as captain, the guy hard as nails, no fear, willing to learn and adapt, speaks intelligently and is a winner.
 
KingKhanWC said:
He should not be a certainty to captain Pakistan in the next world cup.

He has too many issues. Keeping players on their toes by hurling weird comments in the field seems to be his greatest skill as a captain. Turning up unfit and batting poorly when he had opportunities to stand up as skipper are just added extras on top of his average captaincy.

I dont think he can take the pressure of being captain of Pakistan esp since now more is expected after the CT.

Fakhar Zaman [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] should be considered as captain, the guy hard as nails, no fear, willing to learn and adapt, speaks intelligently and is a winner.
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I concur. But the pre-requisite would be to axe Sarfraz, Hafeez, malik, shazad, akmals and possibly amir from the team. Amir temporarily, if he can find form and some sense but others have to be permanently.

Only one of haris sohail and babar can play in the team.
 
Eagle_Eye said:
Sarfraz is no kohli.... leave aside talent, you will not find kohli turning up for a tour fat and unfit! That too as a captain.
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That is true and Sarfraz is pretty unfit but if you look at the fitness camp pictures from the Lankan series he looked more fit so he is improving and everyone has to start from somewhere. Even Virat mentioned in one of his old interviews that he was chubby growing up and now look at him! Sarfraz may not be some Kohli but he is a fighter, and that's why I'm urging everyone to support him and you will see the results. Just like what happend in the CWC 2015 when people were doubting Sarfraz and he showed up with some great preformances.
 
Yes
now for the next five years don't point out mistakes of captain sahab
just because he won champions trophy
#sarfraz_must_go
 
Not much Sarfraz could do differently as skipper. It's hard when you are captaining against a side that's better than you across the board.
 
Snatch said:
Not much Sarfraz could do differently as skipper. It's hard when you are captaining against a side that's better than you across the board.
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he could have performed with the bat or not dropped important catches that led to losses?
 
MRSN said:
he could have performed with the bat or not dropped important catches that led to losses?
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Sure he could have played better on a personal level, but it wouldn't have made any difference to the series in the scheme of things. The difference in the skill level between these sides is enormous to be fair on Sarfraz.
 
His captaincy is fine . Needs to bat higher up in ODIs and take responsibility.
 
Pakistan can afford to stick with him if he is out of form batting wise. However, he is aweful behind the stumps, unfit and totally out of form.
 
Snatch said:
Sure he could have played better on a personal level, but it wouldn't have made any difference to the series in the scheme of things. The difference in the skill level between these sides is enormous to be fair on Sarfraz.
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forget this series. When was the last time he performed? He has been even more rubbish than Azhar. At least he had raised his bar as a player when he was captain. He was unlucky he had a very poor team.
 
Sarfaraz should be the first man to be sacked. He has done nothing to be there in team. Followed by Shoaib Mallik, Azhar Ali, Mohammed Hafeez.

Need to inject fresh blood as soon as possible. Hussain Talat, Saad Ali and Sahibzada Farhan
 
MRSN said:
forget this series. When was the last time he performed? He has been even more rubbish than Azhar. At least he had raised his bar as a player when he was captain. He was unlucky he had a very poor team.
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Totally agree, we lost away series with Azahr too but Azhar was mostly in the top scorers and also we lost with a fight. This series we lost without any contest with Safaraz dropping catches and out of form. Azhar was much better than Sarfaraz.
 
Or, may be they can appoint 2 Captains - one for Asia, one outside ....
 
Sarfaraz hasn't led by example in any shape or form in this series. When a team gets trashed and is under pressure, everyone looks to the captain and Sarfaraz is not inspiring anyone unfortunately.
 
Sarfaraz has to do only 2 things
1 Improve fitness and
2 open the inings in oneday and t-20
If batting clicks borh his wicketkeeping and body language will improve
I dont know if he is his own biggest enemy..he was better utilized by other captains as batsman
 
Should b sent home asap... liability when was the last time he scored a meaninfull run?
 
Everyone wants to criticize Sarfraz but no one is saying anything about the masterminds Inzamam, Mickey and the coaches
 
Pak litteraly kill the game off in odis in the 1st over they will play 5 dot balls in 1st over then be 12/2 of 5 overs.

Azhar
Malik
Hafeez
Sarfaraz
Raees

Should stick to 20/20 leagues
 
AAli98 said:
Pak litteraly kill the game off in odis in the 1st over they will play 5 dot balls in 1st over then be 12/2 of 5 overs.

Azhar
Malik
Hafeez
Sarfaraz
Raees

Should stick to 20/20 leagues
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Are you a part of Lahore Qalandars?

Make Azhar open in PSL again
 
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