Pakistan's new captain should be under 25

[Junaids]

In recent years, the leadership group in the Pakistan team has started to resemble the USSR government Politburo, or the Papal Conclave at the Vatican.

Who can forget the period in the early-to-mid 1980's when the leadership of the USSR passed from one old man to another to another (Brezhnev, Chernenko, Andropov), each of whom promptly died of old age?

And dying of old age is precisely what happened to the Pakistan tourists in New Zealand and Australia this last few months.

Misbah-ul-Haq
31, 13, 20, 0, 4, 5, 11, 0, 8, 38

Mohammad Hafeez
4, 72, 4, 40, 3

Even Azhar Ali, who was terrific in the Tests, managed this ODI output

Azhar Ali
24, 7, 6

It has just got to stop.

Ian Chappell - the greatest skipper of the last 70 years - got it right when he said that a captain needs to get the job in his early twenties and relinquish the captaincy no later than the age of 30, after which he can be the wise elder advising the new skipper until he retires by the age of 32 or 33.

There are captains in world cricket who are the right age for the job.

Jason Holder got the Test captaincy at the age of 23.

Steve Smith got the permanent Test captaincy at the age of 26.

Kane Williamson got the Test captaincy at the age of 25.

There are all sorts of reasons why an older man should not get the job.

The Test captain is senior to the coach, but the coach is usually wiser and more experienced. An older skipper like Misbah or McCullum tends to dominate and control the team in an autocratic manner - the players he wants get picked and the team plays his way.

In the case of Pakistan, we have seen for years that Misbah will always favour a moderate 35 year old over a promising 22 year old or even a 25 year old. And every time the team leaves Asia, it gets exposed as elderly and unviable.

But older captains also tend in most cases - apart from Brendon McCullum! - to become excessively defensive. Misbah-ul-Haq's bizarre fields and bowling strategies in Australia almost certainly would not have been attempted by a much younger man, and it's hard to imagine the self-defeating overuse of Yasir Shah having been tried by a younger skipper.

The problem is, even Azhar Ali is far, far too old for the Test captaincy - he's about to be 32, which is the age at which he should be enjoying the last two years of his career as an elder statesman, passing on wise advice to the much younger skipper.

But here we see another damaging consequence of the decisions by Misbah, Hafeez and Younis to go on and on and on.

Shoaib Akhtar is half-right when he says that Babar Azam should be the Test captain. He is actually the perfect age. But if the old men in the middle order had been replaced when Babar Azam hit his century v Australia in October 2014, Babar would now be an established Test batsman with 22 caps, rather than a rookie with 6.

Similarly, Sami Aslam has 8 Test caps when he should have around 15, and Sharjeel Khan has 1 cap when he should have around 20.

Pakistan's entire team line-up is distorted and twisted into a grotesque Soviet Politburo of aged has-beens because there is no conveyer belt.

The conveyer belt should see every player removed by the age of around 30 (fast bowlers) and 32-33 (everyone else) and replaced by men in their early twenties.

But this model has gone hopelessly wrong as older players never give way to younger ones - even when, like Misbah, their latest tour saw them score 130 runs in 10 innings.

So the Pakistan selectors need to be brave. They need to execute a ruthless clearout of every player over 30 apart from Azhar Ali, Yasir Shah and Asad Shafiq, and keep Sarfraz Ahmed who is about to be 30.

And then they need to make clear that even those 4 veterans are too old to captain the team, and they need to be bold in skipping a generation and appointing a much younger man as skipper. I'd prefer Babar Azam, but I'd accept Sharjeel Khan or Mohammad Amir.

But not somebody older than that.

 

[marlonbrowndo]

Amir captain, Babar VC

 

[ali2220]

Babar need to focus on his batting, we don't need to mess with him by giving him additional responsibilities.

Also, before we can bring in a youngster as captain, we need to get rid of all the buzurgs (hafeez/younis/misbah etc) Can Arthur actually do that?

 

[Ellipsism]

Amir captain, Babar VC

The same Amir who hasn't cemented his place in the Test Side.

 

[marlonbrowndo]

The same Amir who hasn't cemented his place in the Test Side.

Yes that Amir

 

[Junaids]

Amir captain, Babar VC

Very good idea!

My only issue is the stain on Amir's past record.

 

[world cup captain]

Very good idea!

My only issue is the stain on Amir's past record.

Not spoiled for choices. There is Sarfraz but he is 28 and certainly not in the position to take test captaincy due to his own fitness. His fitness reflects the Pakistani mindset and if he does end up as the captain, we can kiss fitness goodbye.

That leaves Yk, who is on his last leg while everyone else is either new or don't even merit a spot. So only Amir and Babar are left.

 

[Pakistanian]

It would be hard for that to work out in the Pakistani set up cause the older and more experienced players have big egos and wouldn't take orders from a youngster/newbie in the team, even the players that are of the same age would be jealous of somebody from their age group progressing ahead of them.

 

[Syed1]

Freaking Haris Sohail was smashing it to all parts in domestics, A-sides, IPL qualifiers for a good two, three years and Misbah the saviour refused to play him only doing so as a last resort when some of the favourite oldies were injured. Even then Haris Sohail was made to bat at the ideal position of number seven.

Misbah is fully responsible for us continuing to play oldies. Heck he continued to have old and non-performing Zulfiqar Babar in his side.

Saviour indeed.

 

[Junaids]

It would be hard for that to work out in the Pakistani set up cause the older and more experienced players have big egos and wouldn't take orders from a youngster/newbie in the team, even the players that are of the same age would be jealous of somebody from their age group progressing ahead of them.

That's why everybody over 30 has to be culled apart from Azhar, Shafiq, Yasir and (shortly) Sarfraz.

And those four older players - Azhar, Shafiq, Yasir and Sarfraz - need to be told that:

1. You are too old to have a leadership role in the team.
2. You will be retained in the squad on a series-by-series basis, based upon your performance to remain eligible for selection, but will be replaced one-by-one as promising young players emerge in your role. It is expected and indeed desired that those players will not yet be better than you at the time they replace you.
3. No players will be retained after their 35th birthday in any circumstances whatsoever.
4. The team needs to be driven by players aged 20-29. They are to be viewed as the core members of the squad. Players aged over 30 will not be considered to enjoy any additional seniority, but will be considered to enjoy less security in terms of their own positions.

 

[Junaids]

Sounds too Funny !!!

It is basically putting into a policy what every successful sports team already does.

The whole significance of last night's Federer v Nadal Australian Open Final is that it is practically unheard of to have a 30 and a 35 year old going so far in a major sporting tournament.

Sport is for young men- not veterans. And you need look no further than Umar Akmal to see what happens when a talented youngster with a perfectly good record is excluded to make way for a veteran. The youngster's development is hopelessly compromised because when he should be having to take responsibility at 22, 23 and 24 years of age, he's playing Mickey Mouse cricket.

Remember, Umar Akmal played the last of his 16 Tests at the age of 21 years and 2 months. At that time he had a Test average of 35.82, made almost entirely outside Asia.

Pakistan has reached this weird situation in which a 21 year old is thrown out forever after doing well in a career in which 15 of his 16 Tests were outside Asia.

Yet a 42 year old captain can pick and choose if and when to depart after playing 8 Tests outside Asia in a period of 6 months, across which he averaged

Umar Akmal - record up to age 21 years and 2 months
1082 runs in 16 Tests @ 35.82, then discarded at the age of 21.

Misbah-ul-Haq - record since 42nd birthday
599 runs in 11 Tests @ 31.52, and free to go on and on and on.

That is incredibly damning, and totally dysfunctional.

 

[moghul]

If not under 25 but definitely under 40, please. Look at the other nation they are going for very young captains for a reason and great success.

 

[Square Drive]

Fantastic posts above by [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] exposing the evil that is the seniors in our side at the moment.

Someone please, please forward this to Misbah. Has been thoroughly exposed above.

 

[Rayyman]

Completely agree with OP, but captain should be at least 24.

Otherwise you will have a scenario like Holder's.

 

[msb314]

In recent years, the leadership group in the Pakistan team has started to resemble the USSR government Politburo, or the Papal Conclave at the Vatican.

Who can forget the period in the early-to-mid 1980's when the leadership of the USSR passed from one old man to another to another (Brezhnev, Chernenko, Andropov), each of whom promptly died of old age?

And dying of old age is precisely what happened to the Pakistan tourists in New Zealand and Australia this last few months.

Misbah-ul-Haq
31, 13, 20, 0, 4, 5, 11, 0, 8, 38

Mohammad Hafeez
4, 72, 4, 40, 3

Even Azhar Ali, who was terrific in the Tests, managed this ODI output

Azhar Ali
24, 7, 6

It has just got to stop.

Ian Chappell - the greatest skipper of the last 70 years - got it right when he said that a captain needs to get the job in his early twenties and relinquish the captaincy no later than the age of 30, after which he can be the wise elder advising the new skipper until he retires by the age of 32 or 33.

There are captains in world cricket who are the right age for the job.

Jason Holder got the Test captaincy at the age of 23.

Steve Smith got the permanent Test captaincy at the age of 26.

Kane Williamson got the Test captaincy at the age of 25.

There are all sorts of reasons why an older man should not get the job.

The Test captain is senior to the coach, but the coach is usually wiser and more experienced. An older skipper like Misbah or McCullum tends to dominate and control the team in an autocratic manner - the players he wants get picked and the team plays his way.

In the case of Pakistan, we have seen for years that Misbah will always favour a moderate 35 year old over a promising 22 year old or even a 25 year old. And every time the team leaves Asia, it gets exposed as elderly and unviable.

But older captains also tend in most cases - apart from Brendon McCullum! - to become excessively defensive. Misbah-ul-Haq's bizarre fields and bowling strategies in Australia almost certainly would not have been attempted by a much younger man, and it's hard to imagine the self-defeating overuse of Yasir Shah having been tried by a younger skipper.

The problem is, even Azhar Ali is far, far too old for the Test captaincy - he's about to be 32, which is the age at which he should be enjoying the last two years of his career as an elder statesman, passing on wise advice to the much younger skipper.

But here we see another damaging consequence of the decisions by Misbah, Hafeez and Younis to go on and on and on.

Shoaib Akhtar is half-right when he says that Babar Azam should be the Test captain. He is actually the perfect age. But if the old men in the middle order had been replaced when Babar Azam hit his century v Australia in October 2014, Babar would now be an established Test batsman with 22 caps, rather than a rookie with 6.

Similarly, Sami Aslam has 8 Test caps when he should have around 15, and Sharjeel Khan has 1 cap when he should have around 20.

Pakistan's entire team line-up is distorted and twisted into a grotesque Soviet Politburo of aged has-beens because there is no conveyer belt.

The conveyer belt should see every player removed by the age of around 30 (fast bowlers) and 32-33 (everyone else) and replaced by men in their early twenties.

But this model has gone hopelessly wrong as older players never give way to younger ones - even when, like Misbah, their latest tour saw them score 130 runs in 10 innings.

So the Pakistan selectors need to be brave. They need to execute a ruthless clearout of every player over 30 apart from Azhar Ali, Yasir Shah and Asad Shafiq, and keep Sarfraz Ahmed who is about to be 30.

And then they need to make clear that even those 4 veterans are too old to captain the team, and they need to be bold in skipping a generation and appointing a much younger man as skipper. I'd prefer Babar Azam, but I'd accept Sharjeel Khan or Mohammad Amir.

But not somebody older than that.

POTW!
[MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION]

On a related note - completely agree but our culture often prevents a young captain from succeeding e.g. Malik in 2007.

However, I agree with some posters that Babar should not be burdened yet. Sarfraz is a good captain to move forward for a few years as he is less than 30.

 

[Pakistanian]

That's why everybody over 30 has to be culled apart from Azhar, Shafiq, Yasir and (shortly) Sarfraz.

And those four older players - Azhar, Shafiq, Yasir and Sarfraz - need to be told that:

1. You are too old to have a leadership role in the team.
2. You will be retained in the squad on a series-by-series basis, based upon your performance to remain eligible for selection, but will be replaced one-by-one as promising young players emerge in your role. It is expected and indeed desired that those players will not yet be better than you at the time they replace you.
3. No players will be retained after their 35th birthday in any circumstances whatsoever.
4. The team needs to be driven by players aged 20-29. They are to be viewed as the core members of the squad. Players aged over 30 will not be considered to enjoy any additional seniority, but will be considered to enjoy less security in terms of their own positions.

Yeah retire all the oldies from the 80s and let the 90s kids takeover

 

[Mir jibran]

shoaib malik was 25 when appointed captain but what happened then ?
Pakistani culture wont allow a young captain

 

[Junaids]

shoaib malik was 25 when appointed captain but what happened then ?
Pakistani culture wont allow a young captain

Agreed, but in terms of cricket culture Pakistan's is an inferior, losers' culture.

But I accept your point, and it is why I advocate a ruthless purge of EVERY player over 30 except for the three listed.

It's also why Imran Khan had to purge Zaheer Abbas and even his own cousin Major.

Mickey Arthur can only make Pakistan strong if given a young team with no seniors and no seniority culture, where even Azhar, Shafiq and Yasir are clearly told that they have no seniority perks at all, just LESS security of tenure than players under 30.

 

[Analyze1]

i give baber azam vice captain amir belive me thet will work

 

[Analyze1]

Agreed, but in terms of cricket culture Pakistan's is an inferior, losers' culture.

But I accept your point, and it is why I advocate a ruthless purge of EVERY player over 30 except for the three listed.

It's also why Imran Khan had to purge Zaheer Abbas and even his own cousin Major.

Mickey Arthur can only make Pakistan strong if given a young team with no seniors and no seniority culture, where even Azhar, Shafiq and Yasir are clearly told that they have no seniority perks at all, just LESS security of tenure than players under 30.

absolutely right no azhar in odi no text captain younf captain no sarfaraz young captain in odis young capatin and in t 20 ok sarfaraz but not long term belive me he cant take pressure bec he is not asuperb wicket keeper

 

[JibranAnsari]

I won't like a former spot fixer as our captain or vice captain , Make Babar Azam the captain I dont mind.

 

[Junaids]

absolutely right no azhar in odi no text captain younf captain no sarfaraz young captain in odis young capatin and in t 20 ok sarfaraz but not long term belive me he cant take pressure bec he is not asuperb wicket keeper

Exactly.

In Tests keep Azhar, Shafiq, Yasir and Sarfraz as veterans on series-by-series probation.

In ODI and T20, nobody over 30 at all, apart from maybe Sarfraz.

A flat age range, so that Amir or Babar as skipper has no "seniority" nonsense to deal with.

 

[super hitter]

yes, young captain instead of experimenting the 30+ slot

 

[Pantani]

In recent years, the leadership group in the Pakistan team has started to resemble the USSR government Politburo, or the Papal Conclave at the Vatican.

Who can forget the period in the early-to-mid 1980's when the leadership of the USSR passed from one old man to another to another (Brezhnev, Chernenko, Andropov), each of whom promptly died of old age?

Nice comparison

In keeping with Soviet/Russian tradition, Pakistan should adopt the 'bald - hairy' theory of picking leaders. Misbah was hairy, so the next captain should be bald, and his successor should be hairy, and so on

 

[Mir jibran]

Agreed, but in terms of cricket culture Pakistan's is an inferior, losers' culture.

But I accept your point, and it is why I advocate a ruthless purge of EVERY player over 30 except for the three listed.

It's also why Imran Khan had to purge Zaheer Abbas and even his own cousin Major.

Mickey Arthur can only make Pakistan strong if given a young team with no seniors and no seniority culture, where even Azhar, Shafiq and Yasir are clearly told that they have no seniority perks at all, just LESS security of tenure than players under 30.

u also have a genuine point but i dont think this ll happen, actually the appointment of misbah at 36 and then playing till almost 43 have given them confidence that they also can play till 40's and i somehow feel it wont help pakistan aur aap kehte hai 35 pr he retire karwa do

 

[Bewal Express]

As age is a moveable feast rather than a matter of fact for PK cricketers, this could lead to some very interesting outcomes.

 

[Pete Rose]

In Pakistan you apprentice for the job early in your career, then you get it, then you lose it, and then you get it five years later. The flow is something like this:
22 - 24 years : out perform peers in team
24 - 26 years : shock award of captaincy: team performances goes down further individual performance also plummets
26 - 28 years: out of team as player and captain as pcb loses spine to support captain due to chorus of criticism from ex players, press, fans, or because govt changes and new pcb wants to destroy and re-create
28 - 33 years: comeback with a bang as player and deby interest in captaincy
33 years onward: ready for second shot at captaincy right around the time that second comeback is floundering due to poor form

 

[Asim2Good]

junaid and his usual threads

just points out age, forgetting that all mentioned players established themself as performers of their teams first then they got the nod for captaincy.
Kane williamson debuts in 2010 - 7 years of test experience
Seven smith - debut 2010 - 7 years of test experience.

when they got captaincy they were performing for their respective teams and not because of just younger age.

 

[GrandMaster]

Captaincy comes with a lot of responsibilities, one has to perform at the same time carry the team together. Can someone tell me who is good enough for this role in current Pakistan team? Umar, Shehzad? Lol

Babar is a good prospect and a captain material, but is he mature enough to be a captain? Will he continue scoring big along with extra burden of captaincy? He may either come out too good or may end up his career as a bad captain and a flop batsman. The chances of latter is more.

 

[mango_bite77]

I don't think the age should be made the fundamental criteria for being a captain. The most important thing that a captain must be having is leadership quality and as a leader he should have great influence on the players. Look at Dhoni he is a great leader and takes the best decisions on /off the field. The second criteria must be performance . We can't manage to have a captain who may have great leadership quality but never performs consistently. Also we can't afford to have a a captain who will be performing good at individual level but lacks the gene of leadership. So performance+leadership should basis of selecting a captain.

 

[Hawkeye]

Brilliant idea Junaids.

However, PCB doesn't work like that, and it's never going to happen.

Here, "everything" is based on seniority, and how old you are. Nothing to do with proper strategic planning.

 

[Syed1]

In Pakistan you apprentice for the job early in your career, then you get it, then you lose it, and then you get it five years later. The flow is something like this:
22 - 24 years : out perform peers in team
24 - 26 years : shock award of captaincy: team performances goes down further individual performance also plummets
26 - 28 years: out of team as player and captain as pcb loses spine to support captain due to chorus of criticism from ex players, press, fans, or because govt changes and new pcb wants to destroy and re-create
28 - 33 years: comeback with a bang as player and deby interest in captaincy
33 years onward: ready for second shot at captaincy right around the time that second comeback is floundering due to poor form

A good analysis on Malik's career

 

[Pete Rose]

A good analysis on Malik's career

Wasim Akram, waqar younis, Hafeez, javed Miandad have all gone through a similar route

 

[Rayyman]

junaid and his usual threads

just points out age, forgetting that all mentioned players established themself as performers of their teams first then they got the nod for captaincy.
Kane williamson debuts in 2010 - 7 years of test experience
Seven smith - debut 2010 - 7 years of test experience.

when they got captaincy they were performing for their respective teams and not because of just younger age.

Smith only performed for a year or so before becoming captain.

 

[Asim2Good]

Smith only performed for a year or so before becoming captain.

In last test of clark, Smith was already batting at No.3 and socred 143

In 2 years before Clark's last test, smith had scored 11 test hundred with highest 215 (during those 2 years) and also had scores of 192 & 199

 

[JaDed]

Ian Chappell's suggestions are worst when it comes to SC countries,guys who grew up in a system will never realize how hard its to play a sport without a system.

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

In last test of clark, Smith was already batting at No.3 and socred 143

In 2 years before Clark's last test, smith had scored 11 test hundred with highest 215 (during those 2 years) and also had scores of 192 & 199

I think he was talking about Grame Smith.....


or Maybe not

 

[Rayyman]

In last test of clark, Smith was already batting at No.3 and socred 143

In 2 years before Clark's last test, smith had scored 11 test hundred with highest 215 (during those 2 years) and also had scores of 192 & 199

2 years is a lot less than 7.

 

[Statsman]

In Pakistan you apprentice for the job early in your career, then you get it, then you lose it, and then you get it five years later. The flow is something like this:
22 - 24 years : out perform peers in team
24 - 26 years : shock award of captaincy: team performances goes down further individual performance also plummets
26 - 28 years: out of team as player and captain as pcb loses spine to support captain due to chorus of criticism from ex players, press, fans, or because govt changes and new pcb wants to destroy and re-create
28 - 33 years: comeback with a bang as player and deby interest in captaincy
33 years onward: ready for second shot at captaincy right around the time that second comeback is floundering due to poor form

Good one. For ensuring Babar doesnt go through this PCB must mature first. Signs are good with Misbah getting support through thick and thin but you never know with sudden changes at the helm.

 

[Asim2Good]

2 years is a lot less than 7.

That was their exp now a days at international level.

My last post was in response to ur post that Smith only performed 1 year before he got captaincy.

 

[Lynx]

Just curious to know the exact reason as to why some posters here are calling for Amir to be the next captain. Like, what's your criteria? Has Amir captained in domestics? Or captained at all? What's his cricketing IQ? Can he read the game well? Just because one's a good player, doesn't mean he will make a good captain. Both jobs require different skill sets.

 

[ads101]

Just curious to know the exact reason as to why some posters here are calling for Amir to be the next captain. Like, what's your criteria? Has Amir captained in domestics? Or captained at all? What's his cricketing IQ? Can he read the game well? Just because one's a good player, doesn't mean he will make a good captain. Both jobs require different skill sets.

People keep doing this I don't understand. Captaincy is a skill. We expect to just choose players based on how we perceive their personality? Madness really. Choose someone who knows how to do it and has demonstrated his ability to do it at a younger age. Reason why Azhar was so bad was he had little experience.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

The problem is, even Azhar Ali is far, far too old for the Test captaincy - he's about to be 32, which is the age at which he should be enjoying the last two years of his career as an elder statesman, passing on wise advice to the much younger skipper.

32 isn't too old to be appointed captain. He is younger than Faf who has just been appointed SA test captain.

The silly senior/junior culture within Pakistani cricket won't allow a captain under 25 to succeed. At that age some so called seniors still expect you to do their laundry. A young captain will be undermined as soon as results start to go the wrong way.

 

[AamirWarraich]

Babar would make a good captain but not right now. Aamir would be a decent choice for captain but PCB won't make that move. Sarfraz will get the nod I think. Azhar is too soft to be captain.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

basically pak culture wont allow to have captainc under the age of 25..

i strongly believe that there is no substitute for experience.. While appointing a player as captain, many boxes has to be ticked on the skill matrix...

I will appoint a player who has played 50 tests to his name, played all around the continents and performed well or decent ... Only azhar suits in this for tests..

same applies to LOIs, who has atleast 100 ODIs to his name only UA has but he is the most unreliable and inconsistent player who is still finding difficult to stamp his feet on int'l cricket.. very fragile cricketer...the next one is sarfraz with 67 and has played really well for the last one year or so who has previous captaincy record and also performed well as T20I captain in the limited chances he got...

azhar ali - test captain (i would give to MYK as a stop-gap to eradicate the defensive culture cultivated by MISBAH)
sarfraz - LOI captain..

 

[Markhor]

Pakistan don't have a great history of young captains due to senior/junior culture. Anyway it'd be silly to put an arbitrary age cap on the next captain.

The captain must above all else be able to justify his place in the team. The mistake we made with Azhar is that he was never cut out for the ODI format.

Ideally he'd have some prior experience of captaining with success. However its hard to groom young captains when you look at the skippers in domestic cricket, some them being TTFs who've been appointed only on basis of seniority.

 

[Hasan123]

Junaids lives in a fantasy world. There is no way Babar will be made captain yet nor should he. Let him cement himself in the test side before thinking of captaincy. Not every player is Greame Smith. Even when Smith was announced as captain, he had experience in his team to support such as Pollock,Kallis, Boucher. Lol if it was upto you would have dropped them as soon as they reached 30. .

Also I can remember you saying you don't rate Sharjeel as a test player, now you would accept him as captain? .

So you want Azhar, Yasir, and Asad on probation periods on a series basis? You want players dropped after one bad series? You are an extremely harsh selector. Neither of 3 players mentioned should be dropped after 1 bad series. Neither will the selectors want to drop them. Players who have performed at test level shouldn't be dropped after q bad series in place of supposed talented players who are performing in a poor standard of domestic cricket. Would love to know who you would replace Azhar Ali with? Or Yasir Shah with?

You use Steve Smith and Kane Williamson as examples, I can remember you not rating either players as captains but your happy to use them as examples to support your points. ).

Seems as though if your under 25 and show potential it's enough for you to be appointed captain in your world. Your not even taking into account if the players you mentioned have captaincy experience, if they can deal with the pressure, and if they have tactical nouse to lead a test match side. Babar can be named vice captain maybe, but giving him full time captaincy doesn't help him and it will not gaurentuee Pakistan success.

Fact is there is no other options other than Sarfraz and Azhar, with Babar or Amir vice captain under them.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

Junaids lives in a fantasy world. There is no way Babar will be made captain yet nor should he. Let him cement himself in the test side before thinking of captaincy. Not every player is Greame Smith. Even when Smith was announced as captain, he had experience in his team to support such as Pollock,Kallis, Boucher. Lol if it was upto you would have dropped them as soon as they reached 30. .

Also I can remember you saying you don't rate Sharjeel as a test player, now you would accept him as captain? .

So you want Azhar, Yasir, and Asad on probation periods on a series basis? You want players dropped after one bad series? You are an extremely harsh selector. Neither of 3 players mentioned should be dropped after 1 bad series. Neither will the selectors want to drop them. Players who have performed at test level shouldn't be dropped after q bad series in place of supposed talented players who are performing in a poor standard of domestic cricket. Would love to know who you would replace Azhar Ali with? Or Yasir Shah with?

You use Steve Smith and Kane Williamson as examples, I can remember you not rating either players as captains but your happy to use them as examples to support your points. ).

Seems as though if your under 25 and show potential it's enough for you to be appointed captain in your world. Your not even taking into account if the players you mentioned have captaincy experience, if they can deal with the pressure, and if they have tactical nouse to lead a test match side. Babar can be named vice captain maybe, but giving him full time captaincy doesn't help him and it will not gaurentuee Pakistan success.

Fact is there is no other options other than Sarfraz and Azhar, with Babar or Amir vice captain under them.

his posts remind me of utopian world science fiction series like star trek, no currency, no cost, people only existing to satisfy their own self-actualization need and all that.

the problem with pakistan is not with the players inside the team, it is with the people running the team. idk how old sheheryar sb. is but he seems way above 65. it won't be a young man's world in our neck of the woods ever until that bhai, ap, seniority culture is ended. it is simple as.

 

[Abdullah719]

his posts remind me of utopian world science fiction series like star trek, no currency, no cost, people only existing to satisfy their own self-actualization need and all that.

the problem with pakistan is not with the players inside the team, it is with the people running the team. idk how old sheheryar sb. is but he seems way above 65. it won't be a young man's world in our neck of the woods ever until that bhai, ap, seniority culture is ended. it is simple as.

82 to be precise.

 

[New Yorker]

In recent years, the leadership group in the Pakistan team has started to resemble the USSR government Politburo, or the Papal Conclave at the Vatican.

Who can forget the period in the early-to-mid 1980's when the leadership of the USSR passed from one old man to another to another (Brezhnev, Chernenko, Andropov), each of whom promptly died of old age?

And dying of old age is precisely what happened to the Pakistan tourists in New Zealand and Australia this last few months.

Misbah-ul-Haq
31, 13, 20, 0, 4, 5, 11, 0, 8, 38

Mohammad Hafeez
4, 72, 4, 40, 3

Even Azhar Ali, who was terrific in the Tests, managed this ODI output

Azhar Ali
24, 7, 6

It has just got to stop.

Ian Chappell - the greatest skipper of the last 70 years - got it right when he said that a captain needs to get the job in his early twenties and relinquish the captaincy no later than the age of 30, after which he can be the wise elder advising the new skipper until he retires by the age of 32 or 33.

There are captains in world cricket who are the right age for the job.

Jason Holder got the Test captaincy at the age of 23.

Steve Smith got the permanent Test captaincy at the age of 26.

Kane Williamson got the Test captaincy at the age of 25.

There are all sorts of reasons why an older man should not get the job.

The Test captain is senior to the coach, but the coach is usually wiser and more experienced. An older skipper like Misbah or McCullum tends to dominate and control the team in an autocratic manner - the players he wants get picked and the team plays his way.

In the case of Pakistan, we have seen for years that Misbah will always favour a moderate 35 year old over a promising 22 year old or even a 25 year old. And every time the team leaves Asia, it gets exposed as elderly and unviable.

But older captains also tend in most cases - apart from Brendon McCullum! - to become excessively defensive. Misbah-ul-Haq's bizarre fields and bowling strategies in Australia almost certainly would not have been attempted by a much younger man, and it's hard to imagine the self-defeating overuse of Yasir Shah having been tried by a younger skipper.

The problem is, even Azhar Ali is far, far too old for the Test captaincy - he's about to be 32, which is the age at which he should be enjoying the last two years of his career as an elder statesman, passing on wise advice to the much younger skipper.

But here we see another damaging consequence of the decisions by Misbah, Hafeez and Younis to go on and on and on.

Shoaib Akhtar is half-right when he says that Babar Azam should be the Test captain. He is actually the perfect age. But if the old men in the middle order had been replaced when Babar Azam hit his century v Australia in October 2014, Babar would now be an established Test batsman with 22 caps, rather than a rookie with 6.

Similarly, Sami Aslam has 8 Test caps when he should have around 15, and Sharjeel Khan has 1 cap when he should have around 20.

Pakistan's entire team line-up is distorted and twisted into a grotesque Soviet Politburo of aged has-beens because there is no conveyer belt.

The conveyer belt should see every player removed by the age of around 30 (fast bowlers) and 32-33 (everyone else) and replaced by men in their early twenties.

But this model has gone hopelessly wrong as older players never give way to younger ones - even when, like Misbah, their latest tour saw them score 130 runs in 10 innings.

So the Pakistan selectors need to be brave. They need to execute a ruthless clearout of every player over 30 apart from Azhar Ali, Yasir Shah and Asad Shafiq, and keep Sarfraz Ahmed who is about to be 30.

And then they need to make clear that even those 4 veterans are too old to captain the team, and they need to be bold in skipping a generation and appointing a much younger man as skipper. I'd prefer Babar Azam, but I'd accept Sharjeel Khan or Mohammad Amir.

But not somebody older than that.

Why are you so fond of these categorical propositions? No bowler who is not of such and such height. No captain who is not younger than etc? It is literally the opposite of what most people consider to be good reasoning, e.g. thinking that is alert to context and nuance and difference. The fact is there is no one take u on the mantle right now fits this description and there is nothing wrong with giving Sarfraz the job and him train a VC, hopefully passing along not merely tactical nous but also aggression and fearlessness.

 

[Rayyman]

Babar should definitely be the vice captain in LOIs. Not sure about Tests though. Probably Amir or Shafiq.

 

[Lynx]

People keep doing this I don't understand. Captaincy is a skill. We expect to just choose players based on how we perceive their personality? Madness really. Choose someone who knows how to do it and has demonstrated his ability to do it at a younger age. Reason why Azhar was so bad was he had little experience.

Yeah, people are like, "Hey this guy is performing well, he should be our next captain." OR they would back someone who's very vocal on the field and keeps clapping or beating his chest i.e the 'aggressive brigade.' Mind numbing.

 

[Hasan123]

his posts remind me of utopian world science fiction series like star trek, no currency, no cost, people only existing to satisfy their own self-actualization need and all that.

the problem with pakistan is not with the players inside the team, it is with the people running the team. idk how old sheheryar sb. is but he seems way above 65. it won't be a young man's world in our neck of the woods ever until that bhai, ap, seniority culture is ended. it is simple as.

Good point, he has been in charge for a long time still no change in domestic pitches

 

[The_Odd_One]

Amir captain, Babar VC

This is the only feasible solution right now. There should be none above 30 in ODIs and 35+ in tests.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

82 to be precise.

i really hope he lives long and healthy but honestly at that age, he should not be working as the head of the board. maybe a mentor or ceremonial figure but not an active participant but that is only my flawed opinion

Good point, he has been in charge for a long time still no change in domestic pitches

our problems do not lie on the ground. they are elsewhere.

 

[Hasan123]

i really hope he lives long and healthy but honestly at that age, he should not be working as the head of the board. maybe a mentor or ceremonial figure but not an active participant but that is only my flawed opinion



our problems do not lie on the ground. they are elsewhere.

Got to start somewhere.

 

[Junaids]

Why are you so fond of these categorical propositions? No bowler who is not of such and such height. No captain who is not younger than etc? It is literally the opposite of what most people consider to be good reasoning, e.g. thinking that is alert to context and nuance and difference. The fact is there is no one take u on the mantle right now fits this description and there is nothing wrong with giving Sarfraz the job and him train a VC, hopefully passing along not merely tactical nous but also aggression and fearlessness.

Fair points, but Sarfraz is about to be 30 and has never scored a century outside Asia.

But just think about this.

Would Pakistan be a worse Test team outside Asia if subject to the following inflexible rules:

1. Captain must relinquish the role by age 30.

2. There must be three fast bowlers taller than 6'3, of whom 2 must bowl faster than 140K.

3. There must also be an all-rounder selected who bowls a minimum of 135K and is at least 6'0 tall, and bats at 6 or 7.

4. No fast bowlers to be selected over age 30.

5. No player to be selected over age 33.

6. No more than 4 players aged 30-33 allowed to be selected.

Seniority is a brainless, self-defeating culture in society in general but especially in sport. An old fool is a bigger waste of space than a young fool.

And very few 16 year olds could have captained Pakistan in Australia as badly as Misbah did. The terrible fields, the terrible bowling plans, the awful selections.

Get rid of old players, have a flat age structure, and watch the results improve!

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

Got to start somewhere.

highkey disagree. if the bone is broken, you cannot just keep putting sunnyplast and hope that it will get better. The accurate diagnosis and the right healing process is the way to go.

Our cricket has a broken and fractured backbone and we need to start right from there.

 

[shariqnoor]

Fair points, but Sarfraz is about to be 30 and has never scored a century outside Asia.

But just think about this.

Would Pakistan be a worse Test team outside Asia if subject to the following inflexible rules:

1. Captain must relinquish the role by age 30.

2. There must be three fast bowlers taller than 6'3, of whom 2 must bowl faster than 140K.

3. There must also be an all-rounder selected who bowls a minimum of 135K and is at least 6'0 tall, and bats at 6 or 7.

4. No fast bowlers to be selected over age 30.

5. No player to be selected over age 33.

6. No more than 4 players aged 30-33 allowed to be selected.

Seniority is a brainless, self-defeating culture in society in general but especially in sport. An old fool is a bigger waste of space than a young fool.

And very few 16 year olds could have captained Pakistan in Australia as badly as Misbah did. The terrible fields, the terrible bowling plans, the awful selections.

Get rid of old players, have a flat age structure, and watch the results improve!

Preposterous rules there. It's stupid to suggest that captains should relinquish captaincy by the age of 30. Nowhere has it been proven that captains under 30 make for a better captain than captains over 30. In fact many successful captains we've seen were over 30. Steve Smith is turning 28 soon. You want him to relinquish the captaincy in the next 2 years? Ridiculous.

No player to be selected after the age of 33 is illogical to say the least. Thank God players like Jayawardene/Sangakkara/Tendulkar/Du Plessis (among many others) didn't play for Pakistan had this rule been enforced.

I dont get the obsession of not having players above the age of 30. Every other team have bowlers that are past 30 years old and are doing exceptionally well. Steyn, Philander, Morkel, Tahir (37+) all are still part of the SA attack. What are you talking about???

Poor analysis in my opinion.

 

[coy0607]

The captain need to be the best available candidate, which Azhar wasn't

Being young would be good, but you can't force someone into the role if they're not ready like we did with Azhar

Sarfaraz is clearly the best available. He should be captain

 

[silent ischemia]

Fantastic posts above by [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] exposing the evil that is the seniors in our side at the moment.

Someone please, please forward this to Misbah. Has been thoroughly exposed above.

Well Umar Akmal has been given ample amount of chances in all three formats but his performance has been far from satisfactory. I just wonder if similar chance had been given to somebody like Alam he would have fared much better

 

[kingusama92]

I like the idea of a young captain but it has to be on merit.

Amir and Babar Azam don't have the credentials to push into a leadership role such as this. Pakistani captaincy is volatile and can't be compared to Western nations.

You can't let young talent become exposed to such scrutiny early on.

Sarfraz is the right choice.

 

[Junaids]

Preposterous rules there. It's stupid to suggest that captains should relinquish captaincy by the age of 30. Nowhere has it been proven that captains under 30 make for a better captain than captains over 30. In fact many successful captains we've seen were over 30. Steve Smith is turning 28 soon. You want him to relinquish the captaincy in the next 2 years? Ridiculous.

No player to be selected after the age of 33 is illogical to say the least. Thank God players like Jayawardene/Sangakkara/Tendulkar/Du Plessis (among many others) didn't play for Pakistan had this rule been enforced.

I dont get the obsession of not having players above the age of 30. Every other team have bowlers that are past 30 years old and are doing exceptionally well. Steyn, Philander, Morkel, Tahir (37+) all are still part of the SA attack. What are you talking about???

Poor analysis in my opinion.

Alastair Cook is the same age as Azhar Ali - born just seven weeks apart - and has captained England for the last time.

His replacement, Joe Root, is six years younger.

As for Steve Smith - one year older at 27, but who first was a Test captain at the age of 25 - it is inconceivable that he will still be the skipper beyond the age of 31......when he will be younger than Azhar Ali is now.

 

[Cricfan4eva]

I think you have been grooming Sarfaraz over the years. Be it u19 or A-teams, he has been trained long enough to take over and frankly Azhar's appointment was a surprise. Sarfaraz should be your captain in all formats but we all know Azhar needs to be rewarded for his Australian tour. So he'll be the captain till your next white-wash.

 

[Asim2Good]

Bh these useless arguments.

Faf shouldn't b captain, neither b cook.
Steyn,Amla,Imran Tahir, ABD (soon), Philander shouldn't b in SA team.
James Anderson should b kicked out of team, Stuart Broad b ready for farewell series, Cook its ur last year. Don't know how Morgan is keeping his captaincy.
Bad news for Indian fans, Kohli got 2 years of captaincy.
Warner got 3 years leftin him.

Junaid keep on twisting on words/requirements which ll b nowhere near reality and post it and post specially against Pak team, he don't have problem with his own team or other teams. Its getting boring now

 

[Asim2Good]

Alastair Cook is the same age as Azhar Ali - born just seven weeks apart - and has captained England for the last time.

His replacement, Joe Root, is six years younger.

As for Steve Smith - one year older at 27, but who first was a Test captain at the age of 25 - it is inconceivable that he will still be the skipper beyond the age of 31......when he will be younger than Azhar Ali is now.

Smith took captaincy from Clarke who was 34 when he last test as captain and he might still have been cpatain if he didn't have retired because of injuries.
Geroge Bailey was 30+ when captained Aus in adsence of Clarke

 

[Convict]

In last test of clark, Smith was already batting at No.3 and socred 143

In 2 years before Clark's last test, smith had scored 11 test hundred with highest 215 (during those 2 years) and also had scores of 192 & 199

Smith first captained Australia in 2014 when Clarke was injured.

 

[Square Drive]

Well Umar Akmal has been given ample amount of chances in all three formats but his performance has been far from satisfactory. I just wonder if similar chance had been given to somebody like Alam he would have fared much better

Where exactly did Umar go wrong in Tests?

 

[LordJames]

A player needs to be an integral part of the team, consistent performer and have leadership qualities to be captain.

Retire Misbah, YK on age and everyone else who is not performing and then ruthlessly enforce performance.

Then pick Captain out of those who deserve to be in team.

Cannot just randomly pick captain based on Age!

 

[AhsanAK]

That's why everybody over 30 has to be culled apart from Azhar, Shafiq, Yasir and (shortly) Sarfraz.

And those four older players - Azhar, Shafiq, Yasir and Sarfraz - need to be told that:

1. You are too old to have a leadership role in the team.
2. You will be retained in the squad on a series-by-series basis, based upon your performance to remain eligible for selection, but will be replaced one-by-one as promising young players emerge in your role. It is expected and indeed desired that those players will not yet be better than you at the time they replace you.
3. No players will be retained after their 35th birthday in any circumstances whatsoever.
4. The team needs to be driven by players aged 20-29. They are to be viewed as the core members of the squad. Players aged over 30 will not be considered to enjoy any additional seniority, but will be considered to enjoy less security in terms of their own positions.

Our beloved, unfair and brainless cricket board hasn't understood the fact since the invention of the first cricket ball and bat that ........ When we start looking for replacements of the ones 35+, we ruin the careers of the youngsters because of the short time to replace the person and then bring in an old face e.g. Malik was brought in as Hafeez's action was banned. At that if we would have brought in 2 youngsters, One of'em would have 15 caps, cemented his position unlike nawaz's chance as didn't found the pressure or urge to perform due to competition with Him. They have failed to bring new ones and will now surely aswell as Professor will replace the other opener besides azhar and the journey will roll on forever..... Ugh the Undying Corruption of our Country is in our veins.........

 

[Seamer]

Sarfaraz Ahmed should be the loi captain with Sharjeel as vice captain.

 

[Gubol123]

This is the only feasible solution right now. There should be none above 30 in ODIs and 35+ in tests.

I don't think Amir will ever become Pakistan captain.

 

[Gubol123]

Fair points, but Sarfraz is about to be 30 and has never scored a century outside Asia.

But just think about this.

Would Pakistan be a worse Test team outside Asia if subject to the following inflexible rules:

1. Captain must relinquish the role by age 30.

2. There must be three fast bowlers taller than 6'3, of whom 2 must bowl faster than 140K.

3. There must also be an all-rounder selected who bowls a minimum of 135K and is at least 6'0 tall, and bats at 6 or 7.

4. No fast bowlers to be selected over age 30.

5. No player to be selected over age 33.

6. No more than 4 players aged 30-33 allowed to be selected.

Seniority is a brainless, self-defeating culture in society in general but especially in sport. An old fool is a bigger waste of space than a young fool.

And very few 16 year olds could have captained Pakistan in Australia as badly as Misbah did. The terrible fields, the terrible bowling plans, the awful selections.

Get rid of old players, have a flat age structure, and watch the results improve!

thank God you are no incharge of running any cricket team. with improving fitness, general trend is to see more players being at their peaks longer and well into mid 30s. Generally it is accepted that a player would hit their peaks between 28 and 32 and be good until 34 and 35. you want to drop every one over the age of 33. wow that is some ageism

 

[Syed1]

I don't think Amir will ever become Pakistan captain.

Apart from the obvious tainted history, Amir doesn't have any captaincy experience or shown anything that would suggest that he would be a good captain.

For what it's worth even Junaid Khan has captained in domestics and done quite well. However, he would need to perform consistently for a year or two to even be under consideration.

 

[Gubol123]

Apart from the obvious tainted history, Amir doesn't have any captaincy experience or shown anything that would suggest that he would be a good captain.

For what it's worth even Junaid Khan has captained in domestics and done quite well. However, he would need to perform consistently for a year or two to even be under consideration.

even if we ignore his history, he just does not come across as a leader. Wahab Riaz, inspite of being just an above average bowler, looks more like a leader.

But looking at Pakistan's history of having lots of flawed geniuses, it is better to get someone with good man management experience. as of now for test team only Azhar and Sarfaraz look good

 

[Junaids]

thank God you are no incharge of running any cricket team. with improving fitness, general trend is to see more players being at their peaks longer and well into mid 30s. Generally it is accepted that a player would hit their peaks between 28 and 32 and be good until 34 and 35. you want to drop every one over the age of 33. wow that is some ageism

That's just plain wrong.

Australia kept losing with players in their thirties in the team. Now their oldest player in the Test team is 29 and they have won four in a row.

Misbah is proof that fitness is almost irrelevant. He's fitter than much younger players, but he hadn't got the hand-eye coordination to cope in Australia seven years ago at the age of 35, let alone now.

A batsman's hand-eye coordination is in 99% of cases gone by the age of around 34. Exceptions like Sangakkara and Younis are exceptionally rare.

 

[Gubol123]

That's just plain wrong.

Australia kept losing with players in their thirties in the team. Now their oldest player in the Test team is 29 and they have won four in a row.

Misbah is proof that fitness is almost irrelevant. He's fitter than much younger players, but he hadn't got the hand-eye coordination to cope in Australia seven years ago at the age of 35, let alone now.

A batsman's hand-eye coordination is in 99% of cases gone by the age of around 34. Exceptions like Sangakkara and Younis are exceptionally rare.

Australia also won more matches than they lost with the same oldies. so you cannot generalize. there is no way you can put a rule that someone over 33 will not be picked.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

[MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION]
Shall he also a tall fast bowling allrounder who can avg 30 odd with the bat too?

On a serious note , it will be a dream come true if we manage to find such a player.

 

[MMHS]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] what do you make of Boss points?

Sorry for the delayed response, I had been extremely busy this week.

I do agree with most of his points actually - these are ideal case scenario, but it's possible to cascade most of his ideas in 5 years’ time if it's planned that way. If I take Post No. 57, that's actually a fantastic guideline for not only PAK, for every Asian team with one significant addition that boss has missed.

If I go one by one -

Captaincy - Might not be spell bound 25 to start & 30 to finish, but the idea is perfect. A top class captain must be an automatic choice, regardless of his temporary form - a player of that caliber should make the team (respective team - PAK, IND, BD, SRL ... doesn't matter, he competes with his countrymen for a spot in 11) by 21, by 23 he should be one of the 1st choices & between 23-25 he should be the Vice-Captain. By 25-26, he can be made Captain for next 4/5 years at least. However, I don't agree with relinquishing Captaincy at 30 - most great Captains continued till 35+, and if a Captain can manage as a player, he can lead his side till even 38 like Imran, Border, Lloyd, Steve ..... these are all greats of the game. It's not necessary that everyone has to be a Captain either - many great teams had 3/4 great players of similar age, but just one led the side for a decade & other missed out, which is fine as long as the first appointment was correct.

To PCB's support, I can say that, their experience with younger Captain ended in disaster - partially because of poor choice & partially for the player himself. Javed was appointed at 23, Wasim, Malik & Butt all at 25. Javed's recent antics probably explains why he was a failure, while Malik was a poor choice for Test Captaincy & Butt almost killed any chance of PCB appointing a young Captain. I do believe Butt was a far better Captain than Misbah ever was or will be, and he would have easily out done Misbah's W/L stats, but what he did deserved a life ban to be honest. If PCB is skeptic to appoint a Young Captain, I actually can't blame them - Misbah at least kept the house in check perfectly with iron fist. Personally, I would like to see Amir as Captain & Babar deputy immediately, to give them 2 years before the next WC.

Fast bowlers - ideally, it's always better to have taller & faster fast bowlers, but finding them is the issue. For PAK, it's the least problem, because of genetics & food habit, but still that has to be a long term plan - suddenly we can't say that PCB should drop Amir & Hasan & bring Irfan & Irfan Jr.. However, this has to be the long term target - for that, may be PCB (or other South Asian boards as well - apart from SRL, MashAllah, population is never an issue for us) can start long term plan - top talented kids over 6'0" at genuine 15/16 can be scouted from school level & given best possible facilities to develop as a fast bowler - if every year just about 2/3 of those can reach to FC level at 19, within 5/6 years, we'll have several 6'3"+ fast/fast medium bowlers to choose from. Still, there will be Marshalls & Styens though & they'll make the Test team – lack of height can be overcome with extra skills.

What we don't do in South Asia is we ignore physical advantage in sports - hence Hasan Ali & Ajit Agarkar ends up becoming fast bowler. In North America, there are several talented kids - by 16, it's actually decided who'll go to basketball & who to baseball. On contrary, our all-time best Football GK was Mohsin - after faking couple of inches, he was listed 5'8"/9". He was a brilliant shot stopper but hardly had any reach against cross - he was rejected at first trial in English Division 2 (now Championship), when he was at his prime. Mohsin was equally as talented with ball at his feet - at 15, he had both options - to be the 1st choice GK or back-up winger for his club - his mentor & coach guided him to wrong choice. It worked for him in BD, being National (& Mohammedan's) No. 1 for a decade, but in cricket, South Asia is actually at opposite end of ranking compared to football, hence here it won't work.

All-rounders - No argument, I would love to have a Kapil or Imran or Botham - at least Razzak always in my team. However, it's not necessarily the all-rounder has to be a pacer, it can be a spinner as well. Why Junaids has ignored that, I'll explain later.

Age cap - I agree with that, but with a caution. Even if I don't consider age cheating, it's really tough to operate as a fast bowler after 30, therefore, subjective selection is required. Imran's pacers normally debuted at 16 to 19 & they retired even from FC by 32-33 - so, he must have used some judgement. No hard & fast rule, but BCB more or less don't pick any pacer "officially" 30+, which PCB also should do, unless it's a special case like Asif or Akram. However, I'll never debut any PAK (read South Asian) pacer after official 23 - make it by then or it ends there.

However, I don't agree with the age cap for selecting a player - forget 33, I'll pick a player at 43 if he makes the team on merit. Misbah is struggling in AUS, because he is not good against bounce - he would have struggled even at 29. Take YK - he is over 40, but he makes the team on merit. I won't debut a player definitely at 33 – may be not even after 25 actually - it doesn't happen that a player suddenly becomes better at 29 - what happens is that, he might hit a purple patch for a year or 2, but won't last long, because he didn't make it at right age. PCB's trial with few 30+ player (when they were red hot in domestics) didn't work well & barring WI, CA's trial with Voges didn't work either.

But yes, my ODI team won't have more than 2/3 players over 30, may be Test team might have couple more. It's not about how good you are - it's about a policy - to guide the youngster, I'll keep one or 2 over aged player in squad (might be in starting XI as well), but the policy is that - it's the best of the old lot. For spinners, I hardly bother about age as long as they have the stamina & fitness. 33 years cap means Herath, Ajmal or Warne would have been less than half of their career.

Seniority is not only brainless, it's actually creates grouping & selfish players. Every visionary leader had phased out old players with younger, hungry player who would strive to establish themselves & that's universal - Lloyd could have kept Kanhai or Fredricks for few more years, but that would have only delayed Grineedge & Haynes. Imran dropped his illustrious Cousin, then dropped Zaheer - not because 19 years old Malik was better than Majid or Rambo Raja was better than Zaheer; rather because that's the way you build a team. More or less, every series, Imran will pick couple of youngster & he'll drop couple of under performing seniors - it's not about who is talented or who is not; rather it's a process of transition - many of the youngsters couldn't survive, but few went to become Waquar, Aaquib, Inzi, Saeed or Mushi. You can't make the team suddenly 23 years old, but that doesn't mean PAK will tour with most players over 30, many over 35 .... even 40.


Only part of his post that's missing is spinners - there is no direction for spinners and I know exactly why. Being an Englishman, Junaids has very little clue of how a top quality spinner can be effective. And, this is not only recent time - historically this had been England's major weakness. People love to think that AUS dominated Ashes because of their pace bowlers or batsman, but that's completely wrong - even including Bradman. I can categorically prove that AUS won half of their Ashes because of having one or two world class spinners in their line-up, mostly leggi (because, their wickets are suitable for leg spin), sometimes finger spinners as well.

From Trumble, Vic Saunders, Horden, Maily, Grimmet, O'railey, Benaud, Warne, McGill - AUS had a top class spinner that was beyond wicket. Compared to that, if you look at historically English spinners - almost everyone, may be apart from Laker, actually reflects Junaids' philosophy - spinners limited by (or dependent on) particular condition. Condition can be wet wicket, sticky dog, foot marks.... from Briggs, Blythe, Peel, Verity, Peebles, Wardle, Lock, Illingworth, Underwood .. almost everyone was defensive spinners, who would be used only when you have a big total in 1st innings or defending on 4th innings (or under some specific condition). This has resulted, very ordinary spinners like Embury, Illingworth or Gifford leading ENG team with their bits & pieces bowling & batting. England is still holding on to that philosophy – unless you bat well, as a spinner you won’t make the team, eve at County level, which has wiped out sinners from English game.

This is the only part I don’t agree – Asian teams/Captains do know how to use spinners & how to attack with them – may be Misbah over did that, but Asian spinners have Won Test/Series in every where including AUS/ENG/SAF. Also, quality spinners can be used as an attacking weapon – leg spinners definitely, even finger spinners as well. Prassanna, Murali, Saqui, Gibbs were successful offies in AUS (in Asia, Aussies had been often destroyed by off-spinners). For a team like PAK, I’ll definitely look for a spin all-rounder like MoHa/Malik to compete with a pace bowling all-rounder & a pair of spinners, preferably one leggi & one left-armer. Depending on wicket, 1.5 to 2.5 spinners will play in Asian condition while the Leggi will play everywhere, even on green tops.

 

[Flat_Track_Bully]

If we uproot seniority culture how will we pay respect to blessed in all facets Hafeez and "My real age is 41" Younis Khan and Quaid e Azam reincarnated Misbah?

MMHS and Junaids are totally spot on. We need a cyclical approach to captains and players so they play within their ideal baselines.

We are not winning because we are picking players who are over the hill and/or not good enough.

Problem is Pakistan is so knee deep in seniority culture that it's going to take a revolution to climb out. We are also not producing any leaders. Sarfraz, a poor orator and zero charisma is the best we got? Azhar before him? Really is this all we have in the cupboard?

The day Pakistan has 10 players under 32 and a captain under 27 is the day we will start competing. Until then let 30 somethings huff and puff around the ground trying to keep up with the youngsters.