POTW : AbdullahEKhan

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An excellent debut by a potential star batsman - welcome to PakPassion and well done for a very well constructed and emotive piece on why Babar Azam is the right choice as T20I captain for Pakistan.

Congratulation to [MENTION=150739]AbdullahEKhan[/MENTION] for POTW


http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...-Azam-as-T20I-captain&p=10574482#post10574482

Why are all of you making such blunt comments about his captaincy? Both of you who support the decision and those who don't.

Is captaincy based on the individual's performance as a batsman or as a player? No. Yes, those things undoubtedly increase credibility. But good captaincy is based on technical knowledge of the game, captaincy is based on situation-awareness, quick decision making, informed decision making, overall leadership qualities etc. Great captains (Dhoni, Ponting, Graeme Smith) also think out of the box. These are all virtues that I feel the captain must possess.

I know Sarfaraz wasnt in the best of form, but he was a very good captain, very smart, and would have really helped him if he was given the correct playing XIs, and if his own number was correctly slotted. Poor guy sometimes waited for his turn till no. 9. But he won us matches, and that was a plus point. He had a lot to improve upon though. Also, I do think he was a bad test captain, and it was about time we did something about that.

And let me tell you, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, and Azhar Ali are the worst captains I have ever seen, ever! They set odd fields that dont work, they make bizarre bowling changes, and have no clue how to take wickets!! They can't adopt to the situation, and have zero match flexibility.

Did you see Babar Azam in the T20 Cup, blekkhh. In the Australia matches that he captained in, his bowlers were bowling standard off stump good length bowling, no real pace and no real swing (at a time when they should've been bowling yorkers), and he only had 3 fielders on the off side, all in the circle.

However, all that said, Babar is a quick learner and doesnt repeat his mistakes. When he takes the job seriously, he never repeats the same mistakes again, at least from his batting and fielding. It's at least a refreshing choice, and very exciting, and it could prove beneficial for us in the future.

Some people are quoting Imad Wasim. Hahaha. Yes he has some experience, but he was the second worst captain in the PSL, IMO. You guys are talking like he won Karachi two trophies in one tournament

Also guys, please stop mistaking captaincy with factors like seniority, experience, or lead by example types. Or because Azhar Ali is a "decent guy", he'll be a good captain (Is Virat decent?) You can be senior, you can have lots of experience, but you can still be a dumb, or a uselessly defensive captain (Shahid Afridi, Misbah ul Haq, Shoaib Malik are good examples). I mean guys, Tim Payne, for example, isnt the best player exactly, but he's a very good captain and is getting better with time.

IMO, Sarfraz should have stayed as T20 Captain, and we saw a glimpse of Asad Shafiq's captaincy in the SA series. I liked what I saw. When SA batsmen were flowing with runs, he had to take over because of some issue with Sarfaraz, and with his radically aggressive fielding ploys, he reduced the strike rates dramatically and then even got a wicket. Also, he's experienced and senior, and at the very least is a much better choice than Azhar. I would rather make Shaheen Shah Afridi the captain. No kidding.

And in ODIs, maybe I would give him a rest and there I could let the vice captain (Shadab, or Babar whoever it was) take over for a series or two, or until whenever Sarfraz got his form back. If they proved to be better than Saifi, maybe even give them an extended run.

But let's just wait and see. Maybe I am wrong. But as of now, I think that not only should Azhar be immediately removed as captain, but I think he should be removed from the team as a whole. He is disastrously out of form in all departments, and immensely overrated. And Shoaib, Hafeez and Azhar are the worst players for overseas conditions anyways.

Nevertheless, I would love to hear your opinions on my perspective, and hopefully I've successfully convinced some of you reading this to change your minds

 

[Green Patriot]

My my, that is an excellent debut.

Have a wonderful PP career.

 

[Waleed93]

Nice post, but there are some things you need to take a look into.
Firstly, it is way too early to judge Babar on his captaincy skills. He has been the captain for just about 3 T20Is. I don't think you should judge somebody's captaincy credentials based on T20 leagues such as the National T20 Cup or the PSL. For example, Kohli doesn't have the best captaincy record in the IPL, a huge section of Indian fans consider Rohit as a better captaincy candidate than Kohli based on Rohit's success with Mumbai Indians.
Yet, with the national side, Kohli's captaincy stats are not only towering above previous Indian captains, he is also well on his way to become India's most successful captain ever and one of the very best captains in history if India continues to dominate Tests the way they are doing at the moment with Kohli at the helm.

You are making the same mistake with Imad Wasim's example by using his PSL record to show him as a bad captain.

You are right about Azhar being in the team for no reason, but Asad is definitely not the captain we need. Whenever a team changes it's captain, the new captain is usually the player who will lead the next generation of players. You want to replace a 34 years old with another 34 years old who is struggling to even get his customary "1 good innings per series". Just look at how other teams change their captains. Ganguly got replaced by Dhoni, Dhoni got replaced by Kohli, Kohli will get replaced by someone like Shaw or Gill, and not by someone like Rohit or Dhawan, who will probably retire around the time as Kohli. Sarfraz's successor should be Babar, or Imad if we take performances and age into consideration, and not Azhar or Asad, who deserve to be dropped as much as Sarfraz himself.

That being said, Sarfraz didn't deserve a place in the Test and ODI sides anymore, due to his horrible batting form and his poor win-loss ratio against top teams. However, he should have been retained as the T20I skipper where he was doing an excellent job, and his batting was more often than not required.

 

[MenInG]

Look Babar is new and he will take time to adjust - he needs time - that's all