Sarfaraz Ahmed does NOT have to bat well to deserve his place in the team

[Bilal7]

I feel that Pakistan fans need to lower their expectations and realize that players like Gilchrist, Dhoni, de Kock, de Villiers and Buttler are not very easy to find. In fact, until a few years ago, it was highly uncommon for a wicket-keeper to also be a good batsman and those of you who have watched cricket during the 90s and 00s would remember that our keepers (Rashid and Moin usually) would regularly bat at #8 with a bowler (Wasim) regularly batting ahead of them.

As long as Sarfaraz Ahmed continues to lead the team well and does his primary job (wicket-keeping) in excellent fashion, fans should refrain from criticizing his batting because, frankly speaking, that is not what he is in the team for. Similarly, fans should also desist in overly criticizing the likes of Shadab and Nawaz for not bailing us out of trouble because they are spinners, selected for their spin bowling. Their batting is a bonus.

I would much rather have a specialist wicket-keeper who is also a very good captain in my team rather than go back to the days of having a batsman-keeper shelling chance after chance and ensuring that the whole team has a bad time.

The fact that other teams have players that can keep wicket and bat well is of no issue here. Not everyone can be skilled at more than one facet of the game and it is time, we realize this and stop putting unnecessary and unrealistic expectations on our players.

Sarfaraz Ahmed should bat at #7 or #8 (depending on who else is playing) in LOIs, as well as tests. Pick six good batsmen to bat above him and ensure that they are good enough at their primary skill so as to not depend on someone who is just a wicket-keeper.

 

[KingKhanWC]

When he does start batting at 7 or 8 fine but atm he is batting in the top 6 which is nothing short of disaster.

His ego will not allow him to drop down the order. Unless Pak win the World Cup, he will not be captain in 12 months time.

 

[emranabbas]

If you had posted this in the 90's I would have agreed with you.

 

[Usman Chadda]

When he does start batting at 7 or 8 fine but atm he is batting in the top 6 which is nothing short of disaster.

His ego will not allow him to drop down the order. Unless Pak win the World Cup, he will not be captain in 12 months time.

The fans and the media were asking for him to bat in the top 4 before the Scotland series. Now they want him to drop down the order. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t

 

[Saj]

The days of a captain being in the team for his leadership are long gone.

He's pushing himself up to bat at 4 or 5. Therefore he has to score runs on a consistent basis.

 

[KingKhanWC]

The fans and the media were asking for him to bat in the top 4 before the Scotland series. Now they want him to drop down the order. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t

I wasn't. To be in the top 4 you have to have the relevant skills against swing, seam and be able to rotate the strike. If he was younger, I would say he can still improve but I think the horse has bolted now. If he and the coach put their emotions to one side both will realise it's time to drop down the order immediately. At no.7 or 8 he can score a quick fire 30 and it will be fine (most of the time).

 

[waleed88]

Sarfraz's own brand of attacking cricket has become his downfall. As a captain you can't hit 2 fours and get out the next ball. The same thing that used to excite us about Sarfraz is now the most worrying... a captain should be dependable and get the team out of a hole when it's required from him.

 

[Usman Chadda]

I wasn't. To be in the top 4 you have to have the relevant skills against swing, seam and be able to rotate the strike. If he was younger, I would say he can still improve but I think the horse has bolted now. If he and the coach put their emotions to one side both will realise it's time to drop down the order immediately. At no.7 or 8 he can score a quick fire 30 and it will be fine (most of the time).

He doesn’t have the game to score a quickfire 30, not at the moment atleast. He has to improve as a middle order bat, play spin as well as he did before and keep the scoreboard ticking. It’s sad how bad he has regressed from the Sarfraz of 2014-2016.

 

[kingusama92]

I'm not a fan of a specialist wicketkeeper. It's inefficient.

Dhoni, De Kock, Gilly, and Buttler are ideal options but that's not the standard modern cricket requires. In fact, a wicketkeeper can get away with being a handy option that can consistently chip in with 30+ runs at a solid SR. Unfortunately, Sarfraz isn't able to do this and is simply becoming a batting liability.

The moment you have to start hiding him, it's time to move on.

 

[Hasan123]

We aren't asking him to be De Kock, Gilchrist,or Buttler . Secondly he is batting at 4 or 5 so what your saying is don't expect your batsmen who bats at 4 or 5 not to score ? In this modern era no keeper is selected just for there keeping. In fact most teams have a keeper who makes the team on batting merit. Bairstow ,Buttler ,De Kock, Dickwella, etc. So a keeper must be competent with the bat in this modern era. Furthermore he is the captain of the team , how can the captain of the team shout at others when he isn't leading from the front and isn't contributing with a primary role of his ? His captaincy is also ovverated. When things are going well he looks great . But when things are against him he goes on the defensive and doesn't give any confidence to his team mates. In his 1 year of captaincy I am struggling to think of any tactical masterstroke he has played other than making bowling changes .

The sooner we get rid of this average and mediocre cricketer as a player and captain the better and the sooner we can move on . His fans like to play victim by saying he is hated ,no he is being criticised for not performing and not leading from the front. This average cricketer gets enough protection by having no vice captain named , also by having no competition in the squad for his place. Funny how that isn't said by his fans.

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

I feel that Pakistan fans need to lower their expectations and realize that players like Gilchrist, Dhoni, de Kock, de Villiers and Buttler are not very easy to find. In fact, until a few years ago, it was highly uncommon for a wicket-keeper to also be a good batsman and those of you who have watched cricket during the 90s and 00s would remember that our keepers (Rashid and Moin usually) would regularly bat at #8 with a bowler (Wasim) regularly batting ahead of them.

As long as Sarfaraz Ahmed continues to lead the team well and does his primary job (wicket-keeping) in excellent fashion, fans should refrain from criticizing his batting because, frankly speaking, that is not what he is in the team for. Similarly, fans should also desist in overly criticizing the likes of Shadab and Nawaz for not bailing us out of trouble because they are spinners, selected for their spin bowling. Their batting is a bonus.

I would much rather have a specialist wicket-keeper who is also a very good captain in my team rather than go back to the days of having a batsman-keeper shelling chance after chance and ensuring that the whole team has a bad time.

The fact that other teams have players that can keep wicket and bat well is of no issue here. Not everyone can be skilled at more than one facet of the game and it is time, we realize this and stop putting unnecessary and unrealistic expectations on our players.

Sarfaraz Ahmed should bat at #7 or #8 (depending on who else is playing) in LOIs, as well as tests. Pick six good batsmen to bat above him and ensure that they are good enough at their primary skill so as to not depend on someone who is just a wicket-keeper.

Come out of Mike Brearly era. This is 2018. Heck he isn’t even Brearly tactically.


Although because of lack of backup options Sarfraz is quite safe but He has to perform with the bat at adequate levels. He doesn’t have all round game as a batsman hence he has to bat mostly against spinners and rotate strike while giving us sound middle order partnerships.

At 7 & 8 we need performing Faheem Ashraf who has power game and can play shots all round the wicket against pace and spin. Unfortunately he hasn’t yet delivered at International stage with the Bat.

 

[Ozeirk]

With how fragile Pakistani batting can get at times having a keeper who cannot bat well is not burden pakistan can afford. He needs to seriously think about addressing his batting issues and if needed he should probably consider giving up captaincy in one of the formats. This will allow for a new captain to be groomed as well for if and when sarfaraz moves on.

 

[moghul]

If you had posted this in the 90's I would have agreed with you.

I would say 70s when there were WKs like Bari , Murray and Taylor, but they were amount the all time great WKs, Sarfraz is one of the all time mediocre keeper and the worst captain we ever had after M Yusuf.

 

[KP From India]

Agreed, with current Pak batting line-up, his batting is least important. He can bat @ no 10 or 11.

 

[BaankeJi]

Sarfaraz has to bat well to retain his place. He can't bat well, find someone else. Pakistan can't afford to have a tailender wicketkeeper.

 

[Asif321]

Sarfraz has shown he can bat in middle order and score runs in any format of game
He has won matches with his batting . So he has all the ability just the pressure of captaincy has taken toll of him if you see his performance before captaincy he was our match winner with bat
I think releasing him from test captaincy will be good and let him continue in Lois
Needs some confidence and should continue bat at 4 or 5 in Lois

 

[Hawkeye]

Sarfraz brief patch of scoring runs was an EXCEPTION rather than the norm.

It was a very small purple patch and gave people false hopes, expectations. Even in that purple patch he was clueless against pace bowling, just like Malik.

Throughout his career his batting has been mediocre except that small patch.

 

[Shandarchowka]

Very wrong analysis and so much wrong with this thread. A captain has to be the first name on the sheet for his skills. If he's unable to justify then he should not be part of the team. I hope Sarfraz comes good with the bat because he has the potential and he is just going through a rough patch.

 

[Sunny_majoka]

Gone are the days when we need specialist keeper. If we play sarfraz on the basis of his captaincy and wicket keeping skills. Then we will be short of batsman.. Or bowler. And we can't win matches with useless allrounders.
Even a team like india can't afford. A specialist wicketkeeper like dhoni without batting.

 

[Tyler Durden]

Fakhar Zaman - He's under pressure
Imam - YOUNG, MINNOW BASHER, New bloke and should be persisted with
Babar Azam - Mental midget, YOUNG, MINNOW BASHER, should be persisted with
Shoib - No replacement after WC 19
Asif Ali - New bloke, ONE SIX HACK
Shadab Khan - Hyped him as the best Exciting 'Allrounder', but bats like a Tailender against Top teams
Haris Sohail - Cant rotate the strike, gives catching practices to Mid off fielders
Faheem Ashraf - Overhyped as an Allrounder, but a decent bowler with tailender like Batting
Hasan Ali - ONE SICK HACK, gives catching practices to long-on fielders
Mohd. Amir - Already kicked out the Team
Nawaz - Overyhyped as an Allrounder, but a mediocre spinner and bats like a tailender.

and now Sarfaraz doesn't have to bat because he's a Wicketkeeper.

Based on this, Pakistan's only hope in Batting is the young lad Shaheen Sha Afridi who showed better application against Bangla boys and hit a monster six against Fizz and won the Award for the longest six in that match and remained Not out.

Since Shaheen needs a company to bat, and all the others can't bat because they have special previliges to stay in the team even without batting, the only option left for pakistan is to send in Inzimam and Arthur as the opening batsmen followed by Shaheen at #3. This Top 3 would overtake India's Top 3 in the next tournament and if not, our Pak fans would still say these 3 can't bat because they are coaches and the young lad needs time to improve his batting skills. )

I have read so many amusing threads on this Forum after the Pak's pathetic performance in Asia cup, but this one "Sarfaraz doesn't have to bat well" takes the cake...

 

[Gabbar Singh]

The 1980s called and they want their thread back.

Sorry but there’s no space for a specialist keeper/captain who can’t contribute with the bat.

 

[Bangalorean]

Slow claps!

Non performing Captain... "The perfect recipe for disaster" !

 

[Dr_Bassim]

I feel that Pakistan fans need to lower their expectations and realize that players like Gilchrist, Dhoni, de Kock, de Villiers and Buttler are not very easy to find. In fact, until a few years ago, it was highly uncommon for a wicket-keeper to also be a good batsman and those of you who have watched cricket during the 90s and 00s would remember that our keepers (Rashid and Moin usually) would regularly bat at #8 with a bowler (Wasim) regularly batting ahead of them.

As long as Sarfaraz Ahmed continues to lead the team well and does his primary job (wicket-keeping) in excellent fashion, fans should refrain from criticizing his batting because, frankly speaking, that is not what he is in the team for. Similarly, fans should also desist in overly criticizing the likes of Shadab and Nawaz for not bailing us out of trouble because they are spinners, selected for their spin bowling. Their batting is a bonus.

I would much rather have a specialist wicket-keeper who is also a very good captain in my team rather than go back to the days of having a batsman-keeper shelling chance after chance and ensuring that the whole team has a bad time.

The fact that other teams have players that can keep wicket and bat well is of no issue here. Not everyone can be skilled at more than one facet of the game and it is time, we realize this and stop putting unnecessary and unrealistic expectations on our players.

Sarfaraz Ahmed should bat at #7 or #8 (depending on who else is playing) in LOIs, as well as tests. Pick six good batsmen to bat above him and ensure that they are good enough at their primary skill so as to not depend on someone who is just a wicket-keeper.

)

Anyways, if a keeper is not expected to bat and just keep I can agree with that.

But you made it sound like he got his tactics spot on and the team still lost despite brilliant captaincy from Sarfraz against top 8 teams.

8-0 is the score line so far, inspite of his brilliant captaincy and keeping, and he doesn't have to bat well because he is doing a good job.

Too bad the other players are not performing, because Sarfraz is an excellent choice and will lead us to World Cup glory.

 

[Something]

What nonsense is this. We can bring Wasim back and ask him to lead the team and not do anything else if we're looking for a good captain.

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

The problem is that Sarfaraz is neither great captain nor a great specialist wicketkepper .
No body is asking him to become a legendary player but atleast he can perform in some better way or can make regular 30 or 40 if not a big score.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

Nonsensical thread.

Every single player needs to perform to deserve a place in the side.

Sarfaraz has not being doing that for a long time now.

 

[jusarrived]

Honestly you cannot afford to have a WK who cannot bat in the team these days , if you look at the indian team Dhonis form in last 2 years has made such a big difference to the balance of side .

 

[MMHS]

True - I agree with OP. It actually proves that his fan base are right - he is the best Captain since Imran and comfortably better than Kohli.

Because, as a specialist WK also, Rizwan is far better than Sarfraz- therefore it must be his Captaincy.

The OP title needs to be corrected- Sarfraz doesn’t need to bat or keep well as long as under his Captaincy team is blanking any team behind 7th rank in ODI.

 

[Bilal7]

The problem is that Sarfaraz is neither great captain nor a great specialist wicketkepper .
No body is asking him to become a legendary player but atleast he can perform in some better way or can make regular 30 or 40 if not a big score.

Sarfaraz is a very good keeper. Besides, his keeping will only get better when he starts focusing less on his batting.

When he does start batting at 7 or 8 fine but atm he is batting in the top 6 which is nothing short of disaster.

His ego will not allow him to drop down the order. Unless Pak win the World Cup, he will not be captain in 12 months time.

Yes, he needs to take this step because obviously someone batting at #4 or #5 needs to score runs. At #7 or #8, he won't be expected to score many runs and maybe the decrease in pressure will actually allow him to bat much more freely.

The days of a captain being in the team for his leadership are long gone.

He's pushing himself up to bat at 4 or 5. Therefore he has to score runs on a consistent basis.

I agree but Sarfaraz is not just a captain, he is also a wicket-keeper which is a very important role. What he is not is a good batsman and we all need to come to terms with that, including Sarfaraz himself.

What an idiotic thread. A captain who does not perform on a consistent basis loses the respect of his team mates.

Sarfaraz has been consistenly doing well at his primary job of wicket-keeping.

 

[Bilal7]

This is how I would like our team to lineup at for the next few months:

1) Fakhar Zaman
2) Imam ul Haq
3) Babar Azam
4) Haris Sohail
5) Shoaib Malik
6) ?
7) Sarfaraz Ahmed (c) (wk)
8) Shadab Khan/Faheem Ashraf
9) Hasan Ali
10) Mohammad Amir
11) Junaid Khan

If Shadab and Faheem manage to further develop their batting, they can trade places with Sarfaraz in the batting order but #7 is probably the lowest Sarfaraz will be willing to bat.

We need to find a gun #6 batsman ASAP; someone who can steady the ship when needed but can also finish games off well. Not sure if Asif is that guy but he needs more time. Sohaib Maqsood can be another option.

)

Anyways, if a keeper is not expected to bat and just keep I can agree with that.

But you made it sound like he got his tactics spot on and the team still lost despite brilliant captaincy from Sarfraz against top 8 teams.

8-0 is the score line so far, inspite of his brilliant captaincy and keeping, and he doesn't have to bat well because he is doing a good job.

Too bad the other players are not performing, because Sarfraz is an excellent choice and will lead us to World Cup glory.

Read it again. You can definitely criticize him for getting his tactics wrong or shelling chances. Keeping is his primary role and he is the captain so criticism on those fronts would be warranted.

If we stop expecting him to bat as well as a specialist batsman, he will improve his keeping and captaincy even more. Players have limited resources like everyone else. If you expect Sarfaraz to spend 50% of his time and energy on his batting, that leaves less for him to focus on his keeping, captaincy and fitness.

 

[Saj]

Wicket-keepers HAVE to be good batsmen also.

You can't have a wicket-keeper who is a useless batsman, irrespective of how good a wicket-keeper or even if he is a captain.

 

[sjahmed23]

Problem with Sarfraz is quite evident. He can't cope with pressure, having 6 sleepless nights in a Asia cup is the sort of thing that explains what goes on his mind. First and foremost leadership requirement is coping with pressure, if you succumb to pressure so easily then you cannot be deemed fit for leadership.

 

[Sirris]

There is no such thing as a pure wicket-keeper anymore. There is no such thing as his "prime job". A wicket keep is expected to bat properly.

 

[Bilal7]

Wicket-keepers HAVE to be good batsmen also.

You can't have a wicket-keeper who is a useless batsman, irrespective of how good a wicket-keeper or even if he is a captain.

How good were Moin and Latif with the bat? I'm sure having a pure wicket-keeper does not make the previous Pakistan sides inferior to the teams of today who have keeper-batsmen.

 

[hussain.r97]

How good were Moin and Latif with the bat? I'm sure having a pure wicket-keeper does not make the previous Pakistan sides inferior to the teams of today who have keeper-batsmen.

We aren't in the 80s anymore. In this era, wicket-keepers NEED to be able to score runs on a consistent basis.

 

[hashimafzal]

I don't understand how you can defend Sarfaraz' place in the team as a specialist captain. As if his captaincy is winning us games? If we were winning games currently due to his captaincy it'd be an entire different matter, but looking at the current scope of things, he is contributing nothing to the team really.

We all know about the fragilities of Pakistan's batting line-up, and having a liability late in the order does nothing but that. We are basically playing a specialist-keeper-captain in the side. What good are we doing to ourselves by having an out-of-form Sarfaraz batting at 7 or 8? Might as well make someone else captain and find a new keeper that can bat if he can't hold his own as a batsmen in the squad.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

The days of a captain being in the team for his leadership are long gone.

He's pushing himself up to bat at 4 or 5. Therefore he has to score runs on a consistent basis.

Darren Sammy, 2nd wt20 he won, look up his stats.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

He took 1 wicket and made a grand total of 8 runs.

 

[Bilal7]

We aren't in the 80s anymore. In this era, wicket-keepers NEED to be able to score runs on a consistent basis.

Why? What has changed?

 

[Bilal7]

I don't understand how you can defend Sarfaraz' place in the team as a specialist captain. As if his captaincy is winning us games? If we were winning games currently due to his captaincy it'd be an entire different matter, but looking at the current scope of things, he is contributing nothing to the team really.

We all know about the fragilities of Pakistan's batting line-up, and having a liability late in the order does nothing but that. We are basically playing a specialist-keeper-captain in the side. What good are we doing to ourselves by having an out-of-form Sarfaraz batting at 7 or 8? Might as well make someone else captain and find a new keeper that can bat if he can't hold his own as a batsmen in the squad.

So the keeper is paying for the sins of the batsmen?

 

[hussain.r97]

Why? What has changed?

In this era, a keeper has to be a decent batsman, just look at any other team in the world. We can't just have a wasted spot in the batting order in an era where 300+ is a par score, especially with our collapse-prone batting lineup.

If we wanted to play a specialist keeper, there are far better options than Sarfraz Ahmed in Pakistan. Mohammad Rizwan and Adnan Akmal are both far superior keepers, why don't we just play them instead? It's not like Sarfraz's captaincy is anything special either.

 

[giri26]

Sorry every person in the team has to deserve their spots. In cricket there cannot be a player who is just a captain and does not contribute anything on the field. Sarfaraz is not a gun keeper either. He doesn't score runs, nor does he keep well. Is there a reason where Sarfaraz needs to be in the team just as a captain? Except for that CT win what are his credentials as a captain? Lost a home series to SL 2-0, Lost 5-0 to NZ, Lost 2-0 to India and got knocked out of Asia cup. Admitted that he was stressed and could not sleep properly during the Asia cup. Do you actually need a captain who isn't able to take pressure himself?

 

[Dr_Bassim]

How good were Moin and Latif with the bat? I'm sure having a pure wicket-keeper does not make the previous Pakistan sides inferior to the teams of today who have keeper-batsmen.

Moin Khan was underrated.

He had the edge and was an ultra aggressive wicket keeper batsmen who could turn it on when required.

Rashid was no mug with the bat either.

The rate Sarfraz is regressing his next competitor might be Chris Martin.

 

[asfandyar]

A wicketkeeper can perform one of several roles:

1. Aggressive, Opening batsman => 40+ average at 90+ SR
2. Watchful, Opening batsman => 40+ average with 80+ SR
3. Aggressive, Middle Order batsman => 45+ average at 90+ SR
4. Watchful, Middle Order batsman => 45+ average with 80+ SR
5. Aggressive, Lower Order batsman => 35+ average at 100+ SR and ability to go at 150+ SR at times


Sarfraz can't do 3, 4 (target average too high for his capabilities) and 5 (target SR too high for his capabilities).

So the only way forward is to either assume the role of Imam or the role of Fakhar and move one of them to the one-down position.

Fakhar is not in the best of forms lately, so I would move him down to 3 or 4 to give him some breathing space, with Sarfraz taking his opening slot.

 

[Saj]

Darren Sammy, 2nd wt20 he won, look up his stats.

Once in a blue moon, but I repeat you can't have a player in the starting XI just because some think he is a decent captain.

 

[MMHS]

Once in a blue moon, but I repeat you can't have a player in the starting XI just because some think he is a decent captain.

That 8 runs in 3 innings doesn't tell the full story - going into 2016 WC, in previous 2 years, Sammy played 16 T20 games, 14 innings and batted at 42/220 stats (YES, SR of two hundred & twenty) - he played mostly as finisher and didn't get enough balls to score big, but finished at 220 SR. After WC, he left WIN team & only came back in end of 2017 to play 2 T20s for World XI for 2 innings of 29* (16) & 24* (23).

 

[Hasan123]

That 8 runs in 3 innings doesn't tell the full story - going into 2016 WC, in previous 2 years, Sammy played 16 T20 games, 14 innings and batted at 42/220 stats (YES, SR of two hundred & twenty) - he played mostly as finisher and didn't get enough balls to score big, but finished at 220 SR. After WC, he left WIN team & only came back in end of 2017 to play 2 T20s for World XI for 2 innings of 29* (16) & 24* (23).

These Sarfraz defenders just embarrass themselves . What do other players situation have to do with him not performing for 1 year ?

 

[MMHS]

These Sarfraz defenders just embarrass themselves . What do other players situation have to do with him not performing for 1 year ?

Just only as Captain & No. 10 batsman, I'll take Sammy in T20 teams - he is still fitter than most Internationals.

 

[BD-fan]

What nonsense is this. We can bring Wasim back and ask him to lead the team and not do anything else if we're looking for a good captain.

No. Get Imran Khan. He has a track record.

 

[Bilal7]

In this era, a keeper has to be a decent batsman, just look at any other team in the world. We can't just have a wasted spot in the batting order in an era where 300+ is a par score, especially with our collapse-prone batting lineup.

If we wanted to play a specialist keeper, there are far better options than Sarfraz Ahmed in Pakistan. Mohammad Rizwan and Adnan Akmal are both far superior keepers, why don't we just play them instead? It's not like Sarfraz's captaincy is anything special either.

It's interesting to think about this, what were the great teams of the past doing that made them successful without having a keeper-batsman? Was it the fact that their batsmen were actually doing their jobs in a satisfactory manner? Why can't we have five/six good batsman batting for us in the top five/six that can make those 300+ scores?

Also, people are underrating Sarfaraz's keeping. He's much better than some of the keepers we have had over the last decade.

 

[light]

forget Gilchrist, Dhoni, de Kock, de Villiers. If he can bat half as good as Mushfiqur, pakistan would have benifited out of him. He is a bagage atm in team pak.

 

[MenInG]

Missed a stumping today - needs to do better

 

[AAli98]

Cnt bat
Cnt keep
Zero fitness levels
Zero tactical nouse.
Surley the most overrated cricketer ever!!

 

[adzzy786]

The game has evolved and it is not the 90’s any more when you could get away with not being able to bat. In modern cricket the number 11 should be able to bat to some extent.

It’s sad to see his decline but it is undeniable, he really needs to turn this around or step away from the national team and make room for someone else.

 

[Kohli The King of Chase]

Need not bat well
Need not keep well
Need not captain well
Need not speak well
Need not be fit enough

But, has to be well enough when it comes to shouting at team mates.


Axe is hanging above him, he'll face it pretty soon, if he doesn't improve and reduce shouting

ct match against SL was his last meaningful knock, with 3 missed chances

 

[Hasan123]

Best captain since IK ladies and gentlemen.


Hillairious how you don't see his fans defending him now and when they do they just bring up Misbah)

 

[MRSN]

Lol talk nah.

 

[ManFan]

Getting poorer day by day.

Has become too comfortable in his role and I wouldn’t be surprised if AUS win the series.

 

[MMHS]

Guys give him some space - he (his Captaincy to be precise) took 10/62 in first innings.

 

[MRSN]

Need not bat well
Need not keep well
Need not captain well
Need not speak well
Need not be fit enough

But, has to be well enough when it comes to shouting at team mates.


Axe is hanging above him, he'll face it pretty soon, if he doesn't improve and reduce shouting

ct match against SL was his last meaningful knock, with 3 missed chances

Can't even get DRS calls right. Plumb lbw and he manages to save that review only to waste when batsman had a big inside edge. Had Pakistan left reviews in the bag they would have won. We were denied wickets but we are only ourselves to blame for. Even an average captain will do much better captaincy than this overhyped street smart cricketer.

 

[MRSN]

Guys give him some space - he (his Captaincy to be precise) took 10/62 in first innings.

Pakistani bowlers were denied three/four wickets because of his pathetic DRS calls today. This game was lost due to atrocious captaincy by all time great captain. This is so sad we can't replace such mediocrity. Even BD and Afghani skipper look more inspirational and leader than this shout and screams master. How in the hell we can't replace this average specialist captain? This is Pakistan. Not some Uganda team. Really sad state of affairs. To think this guy has fans and defenders makes me even more upset.

 

[Saj]

I think he's feeling the pressure of leading the team in 3 formats - it can't be easy for him.

 

[GrandMaster]

Cnt bat
Cnt keep
Zero fitness levels
Zero tactical nouse.
Surley the most overrated cricketer ever!!

Wrong...he cleared the YOYO with flying colors

 

[Hasan123]

His keeping was a rubbish in this game. Didn't see much genius captaincy. What does he offer the side ?

 

[pratiktc]

Unsure if troll thread or not.
Anyway with just 8 months to go, looks like both Pakistan and India will go to World Cup with specialist keepers.
#BringingBackThe70s

 

[MP2011]

As much as I despise Dhoni's continued presence in Indian team, his WKing is several notches about Sarfaraz's WKing abilities.

 

[Madplayer]

Unsure if troll thread or not.
Anyway with just 8 months to go, looks like both Pakistan and India will go to World Cup with specialist keepers.
#BringingBackThe70s

Dhoni is a specialist keeper. Sarfaraz is a specialist shouter.

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

Sarfraz is failing because there is too much insecurity in his head pertaining to his overall position in the team. He doesn't want to let go of the T20 captaincy because that's the only format he's somewhat excelling in but IMHO that has severely hampered his (a) overall game and (b) his use of tactics by hogging that position.

If we are to keep him (which I personally don't want at all), he needs to be told to let go of the T20 captaincy and provide leadership only in ODIs and Tests (That's it!). In addition to this he should be assigned a deputy from among (Babar, Imam, Shadaab, Fahim, Haris et al) so that we have someone as a backup if in case everything goes absolutely haywire until the World Cup.

If we don't take these steps he should be asked to leave and if he does agree his position should totally be result oriented. If you can't manage X amount runs at a certain average and SR - you're gone from the team irrespective of whether you are captain or not.

We need to take a hard line now because its been a year now almost and we're getting phatified left, right and center!

 

[topspin]

I feel that Pakistan fans need to lower their expectations and realize that players like Gilchrist, Dhoni, de Kock, de Villiers and Buttler are not very easy to find. In fact, until a few years ago, it was highly uncommon for a wicket-keeper to also be a good batsman and those of you who have watched cricket during the 90s and 00s would remember that our keepers (Rashid and Moin usually) would regularly bat at #8 with a bowler (Wasim) regularly batting ahead of them.

As long as Sarfaraz Ahmed continues to lead the team well and does his primary job (wicket-keeping) in excellent fashion, fans should refrain from criticizing his batting because, frankly speaking, that is not what he is in the team for. Similarly, fans should also desist in overly criticizing the likes of Shadab and Nawaz for not bailing us out of trouble because they are spinners, selected for their spin bowling. Their batting is a bonus.

I would much rather have a specialist wicket-keeper who is also a very good captain in my team rather than go back to the days of having a batsman-keeper shelling chance after chance and ensuring that the whole team has a bad time.

The fact that other teams have players that can keep wicket and bat well is of no issue here. Not everyone can be skilled at more than one facet of the game and it is time, we realize this and stop putting unnecessary and unrealistic expectations on our players.

Sarfaraz Ahmed should bat at #7 or #8 (depending on who else is playing) in LOIs, as well as tests. Pick six good batsmen to bat above him and ensure that they are good enough at their primary skill so as to not depend on someone who is just a wicket-keeper.

Great logic lol

Another nonsensical post. How on earth can you justify your place in the side when you're not good enough to make the team on merit? He isn't some Mike Brearley that you're making him out to be, his captaincy is awful.

Even if we were in the pre-2000 era, where keepers where chosen primarily based on their skills behind the stumps but lo and behold his glove ability isn't even good enough to make the side as a wicket keeper alone .

Along with his terrible captaincy, his missed catches and stumpings were the main reason Pakistan fell short of winning the last test.

This is 2018 get with the times.

 

[Mainul]

I am always in favor of the best wicketkeeper in the team,that's why I always loved Rashid Latif in Pakistan team. He should have played more matches than Moin for Pakistan. Even if the WK doesn't bat well I have no issue,but he must be a super duper wicketkeeper. But now a day's batting is more important than wicketkeeping.I fully agree with Bilal here. But Sarfraz doesn't look like he fulfils the criteria. He fumbles with the gloves now and then

 

[Mainul]

I think he's feeling the pressure of leading the team in 3 formats - it can't be easy for him.

I also think so. He shouldn't play T20 at least.

 

[Dark_Horse]

He doesn’t need to bat bowl keep or stay in xi or even in the squad if he continues like this

 

[Minnowbasher]

Wicket keeping, captaincy and batting is very hard in test cricket. He should step down as test captain. Atm he is failing in all departments: batting, wicket keeping and captaining.

 

[jaisan]

Go and watch 99 World Cup highlights to know how good is moin with the bat

 

[topspin]

Wrong...he cleared the YOYO with flying colors

Sometimes you have to believe it before you see it.

Rule of thumb with fitness tests in Pakistan - never take them at face value. Fitness test assessments have been altered in the best interest of certain players by NCA and even by PP's favourite Inzy in the cases of M.Irfan and Umar Akmal respectively.

There is no credibility in these yo yo scores published by PCB. It's like a self-proclaimed 5 star hotel in Pakistan which is more like 2/3 star.

It's clear as day light that Sarfraz falls well short in terms of fitness in comparison to other intl cricketers. If you can't see that then you're blind.

 

[Ilan Bluestone]

Sarfraz is failing because there is too much insecurity in his head pertaining to his overall position in the team. He doesn't want to let go of the T20 captaincy because that's the only format he's somewhat excelling in but IMHO that has severely hampered his (a) overall game and (b) his use of tactics by hogging that position.

If we are to keep him (which I personally don't want at all), he needs to be told to let go of the T20 captaincy and provide leadership only in ODIs and Tests (That's it!). In addition to this he should be assigned a deputy from among (Babar, Imam, Shadaab, Fahim, Haris et al) so that we have someone as a backup if in case everything goes absolutely haywire until the World Cup.

If we don't take these steps he should be asked to leave and if he does agree his position should totally be result oriented. If you can't manage X amount runs at a certain average and SR - you're gone from the team irrespective of whether you are captain or not.

We need to take a hard line now because its been a year now almost and we're getting phatified left, right and center!

Relinquishing T20 capaincy is pointless I think.

He won't make runs. Being all three teams captain and that somehow limiting his performance to less than below par is just a cop out answer. Sarfi needs to be kicked out. He hasn't even scored a 50 in how long? He hasn't been the leading run maker in how long? We already know there are better keepers, and his captaincy leaves much to be desired, so what is his value?

I was a huge fan of his coming in, he scored some runs in the WC and the team seemed to be heading in the right direction, but their leader stopped leading with performance and I think that effected the team. If you don't have confidence in your leader being there to support you in scoring runs, then you have more pressure on yourself to perform.

That isn't to say that guys like Babar and Fakhar should have a cop-out, far from it, but having a thought that I can play my game and not worry because our captain will come in regardless of the setting and calm the innings make a huge difference.

2016 Sarfraz was doing very well and looked the part, but he must have gotten complacent and not taken the position seriously. 2 fifties in 18 innings is not going to cut it (in ODIs) or 2 fifties in his last 14 test innings.

 

[waleed88]

There is no rationalization that can define Sarfraz's poor form, speically since he was one of your best bats before the captaincy was handed over to him. Either manage your workload or start performing 'when the team needs you' - can't be a passenger like this after 1.5 years of barren form...
His best performances have come in the format that least needs him - t20

He needs to step up against the team that started it for him and got him into the test side of the year 2014 or 2015.. He scored a phenomenal century coming down at no.7 and really took the game away from the Aussies..

 

[WengerOut]

Dhoni is a specialist keeper. Sarfaraz is a specialist shouter.

Dhoni is a specialist stumper

 

[Lion]

I feel that Pakistan fans need to lower their expectations and realize that players like Gilchrist, Dhoni, de Kock, de Villiers and Buttler are not very easy to find. In fact, until a few years ago, it was highly uncommon for a wicket-keeper to also be a good batsman and those of you who have watched cricket during the 90s and 00s would remember that our keepers (Rashid and Moin usually) would regularly bat at #8 with a bowler (Wasim) regularly batting ahead of them.

As long as Sarfaraz Ahmed continues to lead the team well and does his primary job (wicket-keeping) in excellent fashion, fans should refrain from criticizing his batting because, frankly speaking, that is not what he is in the team for. Similarly, fans should also desist in overly criticizing the likes of Shadab and Nawaz for not bailing us out of trouble because they are spinners, selected for their spin bowling. Their batting is a bonus.

I would much rather have a specialist wicket-keeper who is also a very good captain in my team rather than go back to the days of having a batsman-keeper shelling chance after chance and ensuring that the whole team has a bad time.

The fact that other teams have players that can keep wicket and bat well is of no issue here. Not everyone can be skilled at more than one facet of the game and it is time, we realize this and stop putting unnecessary and unrealistic expectations on our players.

Sarfaraz Ahmed should bat at #7 or #8 (depending on who else is playing) in LOIs, as well as tests. Pick six good batsmen to bat above him and ensure that they are good enough at their primary skill so as to not depend on someone who is just a wicket-keeper.

Only problem with your argument above is that Sarfaraz is not a 'very good captain'.....He is average

 

[Hasan123]

Great logic lol

Another nonsensical post. How on earth can you justify your place in the side when you're not good enough to make the team on merit? He isn't some Mike Brearley that you're making him out to be, his captaincy is awful.

Even if we were in the pre-2000 era, where keepers where chosen primarily based on their skills behind the stumps but lo and behold his glove ability isn't even good enough to make the side as a wicket keeper alone .

Along with his terrible captaincy, his missed catches and stumpings were the main reason Pakistan fell short of winning the last test.

This is 2018 get with the times.

Sarfraz keeping is rubbish and has been for a while.