Leadership crises in Pakistan cricket team has been evident for some years now. PCB should already be able to realize that and maybe groom upcoming players in such a way that this crisis can be finished. The only option PCB currently have is to handover the captaincy to Babar and hope for the best as the other guys currently with decent communication skills are 30+ and not the permanent fixture in the team.
Meanhwhile from the current lot Imam, Rizwan, Shaheen (From bowling side) and maybe Shadab can be groomed as players as well as guys who can form the core leadership group in the team going forward. Cant think of better names from the current young lot.
At the same time young promising U-19 cricketers like Haider Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Haris etc need to be groomed as players as well as in leadership skills with maybe some sessions and workshops so that this crisis doesnt remain their.
I wont mind that some guys which look like future players of Pakistan and potential leaders being given domestic and PSL captaincies in their early, mid 20s. Yes competition needs to be good but at the same time ultimate aim of tournament is to provide the missing components to the national team. Having your national team's LOI captain not captaining in premier domestic tournument are the kind of decisions which serve no purpose and PCB needs to take a stance in such situations.
I dont think you need PM of the country to point out evident facts, PCB should be able to realize this on their own.
You are right. So far they have groomed a few actually - after Sarfaraz (who was groomed all through age group cricket) they tried to groom Babar because he was spotted as special early on, giving him captaincy roles very early. Poor guy though just didn’t have it naturally (though he is good enough and better than many are currently making him out to be).
Rohail has been groomed thoroughly from the current batch. He has captained Pakistan U-19 for 2 years, followed by captaining the 1st XI of Northern in a First Class match at the age of 19, then vice captaining Pakistan Emerging, and finally captaining Pakistan A versus MCC.
So the three products who have really been backed through age group cricket in the last 15 years have been Sarfaraz Ahmed (2006), Imad Wasim and Shan Masood (2008), Babar (2012), and now Rohail Nazir (2020).
The question is the people in between. They have all failed to make an impact. Azeem Ghumman, Gauhar Hafeez, Hassan Khan, Sami Aslam, these are the captains of U-19 teams past. Only Sami Aslam continues to be discussed in cricketing circles and is a long way from making Pakistan team, let alone making an impact or being made captain.
PCB hasn’t done particularly bad to be honest. They did what they could, to the most part, in developing captains — in addition to the above mentioned captains in Sarfaraz, Imad, Shan, Babar, and Rohail, we have also seen Rizwan and Shan who have captained Pakistan A as well as domestic FC, while Shadab is being backed at Islamabad United which I think is fantastic, Imad is at Karachi Kings, and Shan at Multan Sultans.
The real issue is that all of these “potential captains” aside from Babar don’t have a spot locked in the team!
The best we can do now is groom youngsters — Saud Shakil, Rohail Nazir have already been in the grooming phase for several years now, and I am sure Hurraira has been identified by Mohammad Wasim at Northern as a captaincy candidate for the future.
What I would like to see are leadership coaching sessions with life coach professionals etc and motivational speakers. Seminars and such. What else can be done?
) I feel as if stuff like this comes from people who have only just started watching cricket or rarely watch the sport but just want to make themselves feel good. I don't think I've ever seen a bigger beta male captain than Azhar before.
