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Sarfaraz Ahmed captaincy watch on the tour of Ireland and England (2018)

MenInG

MenInG

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Seems to have handled his bowlers well but his own form is suspect. Can he provide the leadership and also improve his own form in batting and 'keeping?
 
Garbage keeping, first and foremost. Also, the "go into your shell and wait till the score magically builds" tried and tested strategy we used in NZ for the top order appears to be live and well.
 
And his 2nd dropped catch of the day! He has to improve or this will be costly against England.
 
Poor Amir, once he starts to bowl well and gets his tail up, catches start getting dropped.
 
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I'm not giving Sarfraz much credit for an aggressive follow on, we should have used an innings to practice some counter attacking batting from top to bottom in these conditions, not a fan of this.
 
MenInG said:
And his 2nd dropped catch of the day! He has to improve or this will be costly against England.
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Sarfraz going the Kamran Akmal (2006) way. It is also when Kami's downfall started. Hopefully Sarfraz doesn't go the same path and improves quickly.
 
So if we draw the game, it’s Sarfraz fault, if we loose the game it’s Sarfraz fault ( we lost to Ireland) if we win the 4 day game it’s Sarfraz fault) we won the game but didn’t get enough batting practice. Does this game count? And if it does we should be going for the win. As far as batting goes, if they need practice every game batsmen should not be playing.
 
Oneking said:
So if we draw the game, it’s Sarfraz fault, if we loose the game it’s Sarfraz fault ( we lost to Ireland) if we win the 4 day game it’s Sarfraz fault) we won the game but didn’t get enough batting practice. Does this game count? And if it does we should be going for the win. As far as batting goes, if they need practice every game batsmen should not be playing.
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I think not enforcing a follow on would have been better regardless of the opposition. If Ireland take a lead of 150 odd batting in the 4th innings won't be easy. And if you lose early wickets you are up against it. I don't understand the logic behind enforcing the follow on
 
silent ischemia said:
I think not enforcing a follow on would have been better regardless of the opposition. If Ireland take a lead of 150 odd batting in the 4th innings won't be easy. And if you lose early wickets you are up against it. I don't understand the logic behind enforcing the follow on
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If Ireland end up scoring 340 runs in these conditions, our bowlers should all collectively retire.
 
El Generico said:
If Ireland end up scoring 340 runs in these conditions, our bowlers should all collectively retire.
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To be honest it's not that difficult wicket to bat on. It's just the first 10-15 overs with the new ball that are difficult to negotiate, after that it's easy to score if the batsmen concentrate. You can see the lower order batsmen from both teams have had more time to play their shots. Ireland at present being 64/0 loss have good chance of scoring 300 plus runs.
Enforcing a follow on just didn't make sense
 
Good of him to stop Amir from bowling as he could see Amir was struggling. An ambitious captain would have probably continued.
 
Lead by 91 and Mr. ‘Best since IK’ has an extra cover and only two slips whilst the ball is still moving around.

:salute:
 
Poor keeping in general and his batting hasnt been up to scratch in game either. Really cant see the 5-1-5 combo working in test cricket when captain/keeper isnt pulling his own weight in the team.
 
The idea behind the follow on

A lead of 180 and you put a bowling attack where 3 bowlers have a combine total of 7 tests between them and you expect them to take 20 wickets in one go.

What kind of captaincy is this?
 
Was pure stupidity. We could have even just batted the 26 overs left, got around 300 lead and declared in the morning(though around 400 would be preferrable if we bat a little bit more than that). I'm so angry, all we did is give them easy runs on that day and get a platform. The match would have been over by now if we'd batted second got a unsurpassable lead and put them into bat. But now we have to bat again, scared of chasing and our main pacer injured.

I wonder who made the decision, captain or coach. Or both.

Worst still, not following on added extra strain on our bowlers. There's the chance Amir would not have got injured with some extra rest.
 
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i think its too much for him to captain 3 formats and then perform with gloves and bat
not everyone is Dhoni
i would suggest if he want to prolong his test career. he should give up captaining test side
he is excellent for t20 and odi as they are shorter formats which require quick thinking and aggressive tactics which he is good at
in test we need patient captain . who are your options Asad ? i guess
 
Wasn't aware that he dropped some catches. Absolutely pathetic. And his fans find excuses why we don't need a back up keeper. He knows he will play every game regardless of how he performs. His capataincy isn't anything special so he shouldn't be a guaranteed starter.
 
Asif321 said:
i think its too much for him to captain 3 formats and then perform with gloves and bat
not everyone is Dhoni
i would suggest if he want to prolong his test career. he should give up captaining test side
he is excellent for t20 and odi as they are shorter formats which require quick thinking and aggressive tactics which he is good at
in test we need patient captain . who are your options Asad ? i guess
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I doubt Asad can do a good job, has little experience in captaincy. Sarfraz is the only current choice. And we can't exactly give the captaincy back to Azhar, and Azhar wasn't a good captain anyway.

The only other option I can think of is bringing in Fawad and giving him captaincy. Otherwise I can't see past Sarfraz.
 
ads101 said:
I doubt Asad can do a good job, has little experience in captaincy. Sarfraz is the only current choice. And we can't exactly give the captaincy back to Azhar, and Azhar wasn't a good captain anyway.

The only other option I can think of is bringing in Fawad and giving him captaincy. Otherwise I can't see past Sarfraz.
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let us see what happens this test and vs England . if the team doesnt do good i think it should be time to replace him
 
So defensive today and lacked a plan B.

It seemed that as soon as Ireland started to stick around he went on the defensive.

Mohammad Amir was bowling brilliantly late in the day yet there was only 1 slip.
 
silent ischemia said:
I think not enforcing a follow on would have been better regardless of the opposition. If Ireland take a lead of 150 odd batting in the 4th innings won't be easy. And if you lose early wickets you are up against it. I don't understand the logic behind enforcing the follow on
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As I predicted.
 
His captaincy has been exposed numerous times lately. He was poor vs Sri Lanka in the Tests, he was poor in New Zealand and he has poor in this game. He cannot ride on the Champions Trophy fluke forever.

With his own performance going down the drain, a few more series defeats and his honeymoon period could be over. However, I do not expect him to be sacked any time soon because of (a) lack of alternatives and (b) The Champions Trophy will be milked for a few years.
 
I have never been a fan of wicketkeeper captains. It's too much to ask to focus 110% every delivery, set fields, make plans, then keep up your own performance. A regular bowling or batting captain can step back and see the bigger picture, but wicketkeepers need to be 110% focused each ball. If you focus too much on the big picture then you start dropping catches and own performance suffers. His field placements and tactics were absolutely useless today.

He can continue to captain in T20s and possibly ODIs, but we needed a different test captain urgently.
 
adil_909 said:
I have never been a fan of wicketkeeper captains. It's too much to ask to focus 110% every delivery, set fields, make plans, then keep up your own performance. A regular bowling or batting captain can step back and see the bigger picture, but wicketkeepers need to be 110% focused each ball. If you focus too much on the big picture then you start dropping catches and own performance suffers. His field placements and tactics were absolutely useless today.

He can continue to captain in T20s and possibly ODIs, but we needed a different test captain urgently.
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Who is your test captain by the way? Is it Azhar Ali? As rest of the batting is still trying to establish themselves.
 
Sarfraz should be fired. Shadab Khan should be made captain.

Really smart guy he is. He literally can captain for a single session and Sarfraz for another session. Shadab Khan’s captaining session will obviously put Pakistan at an advantage than Sarfraz Ahmed ever can!! Now make him a full time captain!!


Captaining requirements:

Cricket Intelligenice (IQ) > Experience

If you were to pick ONE!! What’s more important??

:sarf
 
Too much criticism on his captaincy. A captain does not have a magic wand. Sometimes, your plan does not work and you do not have good sessions. That's normal in test cricket.
 
Mamoon said:
His captaincy has been exposed numerous times lately. He was poor vs Sri Lanka in the Tests, he was poor in New Zealand and he has poor in this game. He cannot ride on the Champions Trophy fluke forever.

With his own performance going down the drain, a few more series defeats and his honeymoon period could be over. However, I do not expect him to be sacked any time soon because of (a) lack of alternatives and (b) The Champions Trophy will be milked for a few years.
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To be honest we dont have a better option than him at the moment.... is Asad better or not in tests is relative but he was captaining Pakistan A against England when they toured UAE and Pak A won and his captaincy was pretty impressive.

But still its early days for Srafaraz
 
Let the man breathe. Bunch of nonsensical criticism for no reason every game. None of it constructive, most of it agenda based or desperate attempts to prove points they've made earlier about him.
 
I think the best thing for Sarfaraz to do is to concentrate on his batting and start scoring runs. It is very important for the captain to be in the right frame of mind.
 
Do we really have such a dearth of leadership that one man has to captain t20, ODI, tests, wicketkeep, and bat as a genuine batsman in the team? Tasks should be divided up, and he needs to let go of some of his responsibilities. If he's dropping catches and not scoring runs, then he becomes a liability, whereas the captain should be the first name on the team sheet. He should have finished the match today when he was batting but again had mental lapse.
 
No better opitions. Let's just get behind him for now. His keeping and batting do deserve critiscm though.
 
Nothing wrong with his captaincy. The only thing I can say is that he could've attacked a bit more at times but Amir should be setting his own field and if he needs a second slip then he should relay that to his captain.

It's the same old people complaining about this captaincy. Posters like Mamoon that have an ax to grind but nothing constructive to contribute. They're opinions and views survive on confirmation bias and their insecurities will never allow them to alter their opinion.

His batting and keeping were very very poor. The dropped catches are unacceptable at this level. The shot in the first innings was reckless and poor.
 
Chief Destroyer said:
Let the man breathe. Bunch of nonsensical criticism for no reason every game. None of it constructive, most of it agenda based or desperate attempts to prove points they've made earlier about him.
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Honestly, I only stop by to read your posts these days.

Glad to see there is a sane, unbiased voice out there. Keep them coming, Chief.
 
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Excellent excellent today.
As they say everything he touched turned int gold.

Brought Hasan and he got 2 wickets, brought Faheem back and he got Bairstow on 27, brought Amir back and he got Cook on 70 and then after tea brought Hasan and Abbas and they took Stokes and Buttler.

2 great reviews today too and was excellent behind the stumps. With some luck going in our favor England would have been all out 150.

But ofcourse haters will not say a word as it is too much for their ego to appreciate Pak's captain.
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
Excellent excellent today.
As they say everything he touched turned int gold.

Brought Hasan and he got 2 wickets, brought Faheem back and he got Bairstow on 27, brought Amir back and he got Cook on 70 and then after tea brought Hasan and Abbas and they took Stokes and Buttler.

2 great reviews today too and was excellent behind the stumps. With some luck going in our favor England would have been all out 150.

But ofcourse haters will not say a word as it is too much for their ego to appreciate Pak's captain.
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Good analysis; got to give credit where credit is due.
 
Only saw some bits today but overall the captaincy seemed positive.
 
But but but he's not a natural leader, tactical, etc...

Will be fun to watch if he hits a half century tomorrow.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sarfaraz Ahmed shouting "Paka Kar Is Ko" (set him up) - next ball Shadab gets Stoneman <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EngvPak?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EngvPak</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1000342991389806592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
He has been excellent so far in this match.

Attacked when needed to, set good fields and really supported his bowlers.

A few verbals too :)
 
Saj said:
He has been excellent so far in this match.

Attacked when needed to, set good fields and really supported his bowlers.

A few verbals too :)
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His captainc was spot on in first innings too.

If you talk to him or someone close to him :) then please convey somehow k just play normal cricketing shots and respect the bowlers. No need to go at SR of 75 from start. Technically he aint that bad.

Sarfraz brings so much value as a captain and keeper, can't afford to lose him due to his silly batting mistakes. Pakistani team is heading for a bright era in all formats under Mickey and Sarfi. Cant lose them.
 
Glovework has been very good and his bowling changes excellent as it often has been.

Needs to bat more responsibly though.
 
but but but.. nothing comes natural to Sarfraz... he cant think, cant bat, cant keep, definitely cant lead a side
 
Terrible decision from Sarfraz but the whole 'think tank' should wear this one
 
Is Sarfaraz Ahmed's captaincy a bit overrated in Tests?

This post is only about tests.

As you all know Sarfraz is making the team on his captaincy alone for quite some time.

His batting has gone down the hill and nobody would even select him in the squad based on his batting.

His wicket keeping has improved a bit and he is not a really bad WK anymore as Ramiz used to say; but his wicket keeping is still not outstanding like Wasim Bari or Rashid Latif that commands him to be selected for his wicket keeping alone.

So basically the main criteria for his selection in the team is his captaincy.

But I dont see that his captaincy is anything special. Seems to dont have a plan and just go with the flow. Dont you guys think his test captaincy is overrated?

Also please tell when was the last time Pakistan selected a player only because of his captaincy.

:sarf
 
Captaincy is fine as there are no other alternatives, which is a problem bc he looks done in tests
 
It is overrated in all formats. We have faced joke opposition in T20s, and we got demolished in the only tough ODI series that we have played in his captaincy so far.

He is obviously far better than Misbah and Azhar, but he has greatly benefited from the quality of opposition.

He is a rubbish player and a decent captain. Not the savior that he is portrayed to be.
 
srh said:
This post is only about tests.

As you all know Sarfraz is making the team on his captaincy alone for quite some time.

His batting has gone down the hill and nobody would even select him in the squad based on his batting.

His wicket keeping has improved a bit and he is not a really bad WK anymore as Ramiz used to say; but his wicket keeping is still not outstanding like Wasim Bari or Rashid Latif that commands him to be selected for his wicket keeping alone.

So basically the main criteria for his selection in the team is his captaincy.

But I dont see that his captaincy is anything special. Seems to dont have a plan and just go with the flow. Dont you guys think his test captaincy is overrated?

Also please tell when was the last time Pakistan selected a player only because of his captaincy.

:sarf
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No. Sarfaraz is the best available wicket keeper batsman in Pakistan. You cannot name a single wicket keeper batsman that should have been playing in place of him.
 
Greenstorm said:
No. Sarfaraz is the best available wicket keeper batsman in Pakistan. You cannot name a single wicket keeper batsman that should have been playing in place of him.
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Bhai rhnay do, these Hindsight geniuses come only when some of Pakistani players arent doing good.
Sarfraz captaincy became overrated because he batted first while 99% people said at start of match that its batting first wicket, even Root said the same. Hate it when people don't have their own opinion and wait for a moment to criticize players as if koi muqabla ho rha hai lol. Same as what some Indians do, you will see them in other threads.
 
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Only if Dhoni had this kind of bowling at his hands, same with only if Sarfaraz had good batting line up at his disposal
 
He is not great and also not the worst. He is average, which is about all Pakistan can really hope for from a captain.

For the most part, Pakistani captains don't have great cricket brains and are poor tacticians. But they are still considered good captains if the team manages to stay away from controversy. So Sarfraz is doing fine so far.
 
His captaincy isn't ovverated by his fans. Yes he's better than Misbah and Azhar but he isn't the Brearley his fans make him out to be.
 
He's an alright captain better at LOI.

I think captaincy as a skill just isn't as big a part of the game as it is in LOIs where you have to manage bowling quotas, keep runs down, and manage different fielding restrictions. In T20s it's probably most important, I mean if you look at the T20 world cup, I think Sammy captained his team to the final. Even in PSL Sarfraz drags his weak team through to latter stages every time.

In tests, I think it's mostly up to the bowler to decide how to get things done, even a lot of the best test bowlers set their own fields to some degree.

That's why I feel for tests most captains seem to come under consistent scrutiny. While for LOI you have more captains who consistently captain well nearly every game e.g. Dhoni.
 
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He has been a bit flat today, almost as if the team are resigned to defeat.

Rotation of bowlers has been pretty good, but I was hoping the team would have been a bit more aggressive and pumped up.
 
Mamoon said:
It is overrated in all formats. We have faced joke opposition in T20s, and we got demolished in the only tough ODI series that we have played in his captaincy so far.

He is obviously far better than Misbah and Azhar, but he has greatly benefited from the quality of opposition.

He is a rubbish player and a decent captain. Not the savior that he is portrayed to be.
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Is the Champions Trophy not tough? Or is that just 'a fluke' and therefore he deserves no credit? I think every single captain would prefer winning an ICC tournament over a bilateral series.
 
It wasn't a fluke just his team won it DESPITE him. Fakhar century and Amir bowling did the business.
 
Sack him from Test captaincy. It clealry has affected his batting.
 
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