Right decision by Azhar Ali to retire from ODI cricket?

[Abdullah719]

I think it's a good move so that he can focus on his Test career. Imam's appearance has rendered him redundant in ODIs.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

Yeah, it's the correct decision.

 

[Savak]

Its was always a reality, the decision by the individual was not needed

 

[hadi123]

Absolutely correct decision. Was no space for him in ODI's and it might help him in Tests knowing he only has to worry about red ball international cricket.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Its was always a reality, the decision by the individual was not needed

It was. Azhar Ali showed true professionalism regarding retirement which is quite rare in our desi countries.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

It's kinda disappointing how people have completely forgotten his invaluable contribution to the CT victory. I'm not saying Azhar Ali was a great ODI batsman but he was improving his scoring rate and he deserved more faith from the selectors after that one bad series in New Zealand. Still I hope this will allow him to concentrate solely on his test-batting which has always been his strong suit. Still believe he's one of the best test batsmen in the world. The sooner he gets back in touch the better it will be for Pakistan. Especially with the New Zealand series and South Africa tour coming up.

 

[Usman]

I don't think it's the right decision to be honest. I accept Imam is well and truly occupying the openers' spot. However, Imam's career is young and although I hope he continues as he's started, history tells us that isn't guaranteed (Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad being prime examples).

If you exclude Fakhar and Imam, we don't actually have anyone capable of filling their shoes. There are stop gap solutions like Hafeez, but he's no long term solution. For these reasons, I believe Azhar should have kept himself available for selection. He may never again have been needed, but equally he could be.

 

[Hasan123]

Yes it's the right decision. He isn't a fit for modern day LO cricket.

 

[MenInG]

I repeat again, his retirement is more of a statement to the selectors than anything else. If he really wished to serve Pakistan, he should have said, "Look I am playing domestic OD cricket - I am available whenever you need me"

Retiring from international cricket is one thing, retiring from specific formats makes no sense

 

[Canford Cliffs]

Things work bit strangely in Pakistan cricket. Azhar Ali was not a part of 2015 WC, meaning he was not good enough to be in the squad. Suddenly in next series, he was handed the captaincy of LOI team. From there 3 years later, he cant find a spot in the squad and retired.

Explain this pls.

 

[Savak]

Makes Waqars and Misbah's recommendation to the PCB to make him ODI captain even more strange.

 

[ads101]

Strange really as he wasn't going to be picked anyway. And I wouldn't pick him either right now.

I think we missed an opportunity when he was younger, when he was doing well with tests. He gave lots of opportunities to Asad, but we probably should have given more to Azhar. We didn't have a stable opener under Misbah or under Afridi, and he perhaps could have helped. Would never have been a great ODI player, but might have been a good one for us. Now we have potentially four players, Babar, Fakhar, Imam and Haris who could all probably do a better job opening than Azhar.

It was wrong to give him ODI captaincy and trying to learn captaincy at the same time as trying to get used to ODIs wasn't a great idea. Should have been allowed more as just a player.

It was unfortunate he was made captain, but I can see why Azhar was. Misbah just retired, as did Afridi, Malik hadn't cemented back his place yet. Hafeez was out of the side admist problems with his bowling and being unpopular for the loss against India in the T20 world cup (it's not like we never lost to India before in a world cup). And Sarfraz was newish at the time to LOI.

What we should have done was have changed captains from Misbah whilst keeping him as a player earlier and given Hafeez a try. There was no point accepting us to be rubbish for years on end, when we could have at least tried something else. I don't necessarily blame Misbah for that, but a fresh change of captaincy was at least worth trying. Look how it worked from Azhar to Sarfraz. Misbah even batted at a higher SR before he got captaincy, it might have been good for his individual performance. And tried out Azhar in ODIs as a player and tell him to focus on learning captaincy in domestic, if the need arose that he needed to take over.

 

[giri26]

I think it is the right decision. He needs to concentrate on Test cricket as he is a crucial player there. Pakistan have enough players for the shorter format with Hafeez most likely returning to the ODI set up as well.

 

[MenInG]

Hope he does well in Tests now. Not many excuses left to not succeed!

 

[hussain.r97]

The right decision, and quite selfless too. Azhar, while not being a bad ODI player by any means (his knock in the CT final was top class), simply does not have a future in this ODI lineup. Quite a contrast to Younis Khan who, despite being one of the worst batsmen to play ODI cricket for Pakistan, insisted on being picked over and over again.

 

[Pakhs]

If it helps him become a better test player by concentrating on only one format than for sure its the best decision he has ever made. Otherwise it was not needed as he was not playing ODIs anyway.

 

[Suleiman]

Finally... and 100% respect to him for not mindlessly pushing for ODIs and realizing his limits. Younis, Hafeez, Afridi, etc can and should hang their heads in shame. This guy put team and country before his petty wishes.

Maybe a bit harsh, but I think he's done more or less in tests as well, and should hang it up there too. But maybe he has a year or so left in him.

Personally I think it's high time Pakistan move on from the golden kids Azhar and Shafiq for tests. They got all the support, role models (under the wings of Younis and Misbah for many years), and fans' backing as they could've ever gotten, yet they are still inconsistent and still have the stature of young boys starting their careers today as they did 8 years ago.

They walk on to the crease and the opposition is almost never intimidated that yes this guy is gonna score a ton of runs. Always coming out with a defeatist mentality as has been the case for Pakistani batsmen for the last few years.

This past UAE series was a good opportunity to blood new guys.

 

[Major]

with the chance of Misbah being made selector, i think ahzar ali should reverse his decision

 

[Khan12]

with the chance of Misbah being made selector, i think ahzar ali should reverse his decision

Based on what there way many better openers then azhar for odi's he rubbish altough he was still better then misbah. But, God forbid if shameless garndad becomes the selector we might even see asad ali coming back.

 

[goran]

with the chance of Misbah being made selector, i think ahzar ali should reverse his decision

It will be the worst day in the history of Pakistan cricket if that happens and he gets selected for ODIs.

 

[The Viper]

Azhar should focus on his test game considering his abysmal series in SA.

 

[ExplicitAI]

He's not fit to be an ODI opener in this era due to his SR, we need to be choosing swashbuckling players that can rotate the strike at will and play with positive intent.

 

[Savak]

Azhar should focus on his test game considering his abysmal series in SA.

LOL focus. The PCB should never pick him again

 

[Shafi]

with the chance of Misbah being made selector, i think ahzar ali should reverse his decision

I highly doubt about your loyalty for Pakistan cricket. Even many Indian fans are far better when it comes down betterment of Pakistan cricket.
Bring back your Azhar Ali (who is not even suitable for test cricket), Shafiq, Sajid Ali, Gul, Zulfi......and destroy our cricket.

 

[Pakpak]

Should be retired now. Every other player from other nations from Cook to Smith all retire by this time. But our players think it's too soon

 

[ARK Rafay]

He could've played till CWC19. But now he should not come back