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Sarfraz Ahmed as possible Test Captaincy option in future?

pakistanigoneaussie

pakistanigoneaussie

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Please dont bash me due to this being Knee jerk, i have alluded to this in the past before he was recalled


IF sarfraz has a good series against Aus, i would name him as Vice captain against New Zealand and then take it from there

the reasons for this are the following

1. He has captained Karachi Dolphins and PIA, despite what people think you should have some experience in Captaincy

2. For what it counts he is an Under 19 WC winning captain

3. If Sarfraz proves to be a decent player, i see very little competition for him at this time. Rizwan while probably a better batsman is an awful keeper. Adnan while a decent Keeper is an awful batsman. Unlike Azhar Ali for example, Sarfraz will face little pressure in holding his spot, especially since Moin is around

I truly believe right now its our best choice given the reasons I have stated. Either way there is no easy option left

Im a fan of fawad but i dont see him getting into the 11 until misbah and yk retire.

okay now you may proceed to call me crazy :ibut
 
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Geez

Don't bash you?

When you make a thread because someone has played 3-4 good innings and you think he is a possible captain for test expect to be bashed

How is his WK skills?

Who has he played well against? SL....

you guys should wait a bit before making these threads, at least let him go somewhere or play against a few other teams
 
I have only seen Rizwan once looked a decent keeper to me, where have you seen him ...

Sarfraz should get a long consistent run now, if he cements his spot we can think of him being captain, its good that he has Captaincy experience
 
Sarfraz is a good subcontinent bat, but will be exposed in the International Arena.

First he needs a good few years to prove himself in foreign conditions.

Remember SA?
 
Well Lets see till the NZ series. If he plays well then a wicket keeper captain is not a bad option. Shezad is another option but his inability to play spin is worrying me alot ( if he doesnt solve this he wont score runs in the SC)
 
pakistanigoneaussie said:
Please dont bash me as this being Knee jerk, i have alluded to this in the past before he was recalled


IF sarfraz has a good series against Aus, i would name him as Vice captain against New Zealand and then take it from there

the reasons for this are the following

1. He has captained Karachi Dolphins and PIA, despite what people think you should have some experience in Captaincy

2. For what it counts he is an Under 19 WC winning captain

3. If Sarfraz proves to be a decent player, i see very little competition for him at this time. Rizwan while probably a better batsman is an awful keeper. Adnan while a decent Keeper is an awful batsman. Unlike Azhar Ali for example, Sarfraz will face little pressure in holding his spot, especially since Moin is around

I truly believe right now its our best choice given the reasons I have stated. Either way there is no easy option left

Im a fan of fawad but i dont see him getting into the 11 until misbah and yk retire.

okay now you may proceed to call me crazy :ibut
Click to expand...
Agree with all your points except the Fawad point. Shafiq must be droped for Fawad. If moyo speaks ask him who has better performances. Right now we need consistent performers. People who say Fawad can't play against pace at least give him a chance. To make a team harsh decisions must be make. Also Sarfraz needs to be promoted to at least #6.
 
^ its unrealistic to expect Shafiq to be dropped

He played a real nice innings, that merits at least another game but he needs to be told the rope will be short this time


Apart from that misbah loves him and Moin is lurking
 
Dr_Bassim said:
Sarfraz is a good subcontinent bat, but will be exposed in the International Arena.

First he needs a good few years to prove himself in foreign conditions.

Remember SA?
Click to expand...

yaar who wont be exposed in foreign conditions ? plus we dont have a couple of years

No easy options for us, the reason i bring his name up is because i feel another good series and he will have a strong grip on his spot
 
Dr_Bassim said:
Sarfraz is a good subcontinent bat, but will be exposed in the International Arena.

First he needs a good few years to prove himself in foreign conditions.

Remember SA?
Click to expand...

In SA he scored 40 odd in 3rd Test. In first two he was called up as replacement for Injured Adnan. The guy has a good head and then after having success with positive approach he continued on and then got success. He might not do miracles outside Asia but will might prove descent. Bounce seems to be his problem and needs to work on that.
 
i reckon fawad alam should be made the captain of test and odi team

with shahzad as t20 captain
 
Nah, don't see it.
Sarfraz has done well as of late, but how will he fair outside the Subcontinent?
 
pakistanigoneaussie said:
Please dont bash me due to this being Knee jerk, i have alluded to this in the past before he was recalled


IF sarfraz has a good series against Aus, i would name him as Vice captain against New Zealand and then take it from there

the reasons for this are the following

1. He has captained Karachi Dolphins and PIA, despite what people think you should have some experience in Captaincy

2. For what it counts he is an Under 19 WC winning captain

3. If Sarfraz proves to be a decent player, i see very little competition for him at this time. Rizwan while probably a better batsman is an awful keeper. Adnan while a decent Keeper is an awful batsman. Unlike Azhar Ali for example, Sarfraz will face little pressure in holding his spot, especially since Moin is around

I truly believe right now its our best choice given the reasons I have stated. Either way there is no easy option left

Im a fan of fawad but i dont see him getting into the 11 until misbah and yk retire.

okay now you may proceed to call me crazy :ibut
Click to expand...

This won't work unless people are willing to play him in ODI's as well.

I also think it's lacking in perspective. I am not disputing your reasons, which mostly make sense, but he averages 20 and isn't a better keeper than Adnan Akmal. Assuming that he will bat well every game just because he is in good form is flawed, and you can't have a captain who wasn't even first choice player till 5 games ago.
 
Asad Shafiq also scored in this Test, why don't you open a thread for his captaincy as well? :uakmal
 
Sarfaraz played some important innings and its not about 3-4 innings he also captained victorious u19 team
 
Ya not a bad optin if he continued s to perform kam-zkam misbah se to jaan chote :sachin
 
People are overreacting without giving a proper read to the OP. You cannot really counter the points made which are very well reasoned.
 
Dr_Bassim said:
Sarfraz is a good subcontinent bat, but will be exposed in the International Arena.

First he needs a good few years to prove himself in foreign conditions.

Remember SA?
Click to expand...

Kamran made his entire career out of 2 innings in sub-continent, I wouldnt mind if he even turns out to be a FTB and safe behind the wicket.

Oh and as you mentioned SA, do you remember what Kamran did on his maiden tour to SA? worse than Sarfraz. Do check that up !
 
people have sort of misunderstood what im trying to convey. I'm not saying make sarfraz captain now. This idea is if we want a quick transfer of captaincy in the coming year or so.

In a perfect world Fawad would be my first choice, but i highly doubt he will make the 11 till some retirements, by then off course we will have another captaincy crisis.


So ill say again, if Sarfraz has a good series against Australia ( averaging around 35 as a min plus keep well) id name him vice captain for the NZ series and take it from there. By doing so we will have a smother transition than otherwise.

Plus we will have a realistic captaincy option, not some random who barely has captained like Azhar or Umar

We have no easy choices anyways, no easy pathway. Risk have to be taken. While he has done a fair bit of good the biggest failure of the Misbah era has been the complete lack of forward planning as well as the failure to reward the domestic performers.
 
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Could even bring him in to the ODI side and have Umar play as a specialist bat in the top order.

He's been really impressive in the Test format in his last 2 matches.
 
Not a knee-jerk thread, Sarfraz is certainly a contender for the captaincy. If he continues to score runs and no one else steps up, who knows.
 
Salman Butt was a very good captain. He would been our Test/ODI captain for 10 years and he had really come into his own as a batsman in that period.

Such a shame. Also handsome, educated and spoke good English. :butt
 
Aman said:
Could even bring him in to the ODI side and have Umar play as a specialist bat in the top order.

He's been really impressive in the Test format in his last 2 matches.
Click to expand...

The only way this can work is if he is played as an opener. He seems to be a compact player who can hit over the top in PP overs.
 
Good thread.
Good arguments given in the opening post.

I wish to have Fawad in the team as captain, while Sarfraz as vice captain.
 
I don't think it's possible atm. It's not like we have a strong team set up like SA did back when they made Smith captain. Sarfaraz hasn't even proven himself to be a permanent player yet. Unfortunately, with the amount of tests we play I don't know if he will either...a few failures and he's out.
 
pakistanigoneaussie said:
Please dont bash me due to this being Knee jerk, i have alluded to this in the past before he was recalled


IF sarfraz has a good series against Aus, i would name him as Vice captain against New Zealand and then take it from there

the reasons for this are the following

1. He has captained Karachi Dolphins and PIA, despite what people think you should have some experience in Captaincy

2. For what it counts he is an Under 19 WC winning captain

3. If Sarfraz proves to be a decent player, i see very little competition for him at this time. Rizwan while probably a better batsman is an awful keeper. Adnan while a decent Keeper is an awful batsman. Unlike Azhar Ali for example, Sarfraz will face little pressure in holding his spot, especially since Moin is around

I truly believe right now its our best choice given the reasons I have stated. Either way there is no easy option left

Im a fan of fawad but i dont see him getting into the 11 until misbah and yk retire.

okay now you may proceed to call me crazy :ibut
Click to expand...

I think Fawad should be made captain in both formats ... I have said it before.. I would give umar vice captaincy and more responsibility and see how he responds ... Unfortunately misbah has kept fawad away from the team because he feel threatened...
 
To be honest I don't see what wrong the OP has said, you can't really argue with those points and besides I think it's time to make a few brave decisions now, we can't continue to have Misbah at the helm (he did a admirable job after the fixing episode) now his captaincy is stale and it's best to give the dressing room a new air.

Sarfraz so far has shown intent and proactiveness which the seniors fail to show, maybe he could provide the energy we need.

Besides (re: the he'll be exposed abroad) who won't except Misbah and Younis?
 
Pakistan won under 19 World cup under him and he comes off as a street smart cricketer if he performs consistently then i will have no issue with him as a possible option. His biggest test will be against AUS and NZ.
 
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Azhar / Shafiq aren't good enough, Shehzad / Umar are not leaders.. If we had to appoint a new Test captain today, Shehzad is probably first choice
 
coy0607 said:
Azhar / Shafiq aren't good enough, Shehzad / Umar are not leaders.. If we had to appoint a new Test captain today, Shehzad is probably first choice
Click to expand...


Yea shehzad would be a good choice.. I think sarfaraz could be one of the contenders. We need brave captains.

Usually top order batsmen turn out to be a bit defensive in their approach.

Unless ofcourse you are Michael Clark and then its a completely different story.
 
Has anyone noticed the impact of moin khan on sarfaraz. Ever since Moin seems to be in and around the management area. Sarafaraz really seems to have gained a bit of confidence in himself.

Maybe it was more of a case of being himself rather than taking the opposition too seriously.

Sometimes when you give the opposition too much respect, you end up doubting your own abilities.

Moin khan must've played a hand in his guidance because he seems to be expressing himself more, and shoeing some confidence in himself. Hence clearly he does not seemed awed by the occasion of playing for Pakistan anymore.

That knock while chasing down 300 vs srilanka in sharjah really seemed to help his cause.
 
He'd be a good choice I think. Shehzad, Fawad and Sarfaraz are the three contenders for captaincy after Misbah retires.
 
Mamoon said:
Salman Butt was a very good captain. He would been our Test/ODI captain for 10 years and he had really come into his own as a batsman in that period.

Such a shame. Also handsome, educated and spoke good English. :butt
Click to expand...

And a looser who sell his country for little money.
 
I would have agreed if Sarfraz wasn't such a nervy character. He, along with Shafiq, have proved they could lose it anytime.

At least I would wait a while because Sarfraz's place is still not secure.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Sarfraz Ahmed- 55, 52* & 66* so far in this series at an average of 173. Finally starting to show what a good batsman he is <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SLvPak?src=hash">#SLvPak</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/statuses/500275783722893312">August 15, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Dios said:
He'd be a good choice I think. Shehzad, Fawad and Sarfaraz are the three contenders for captaincy after Misbah retires.
Click to expand...
Sarfraz, Azhar, Shehzad and Fawad are the 4 contenders for Test captaincy after Misbah retires / forced to retire.
 
He should be considered after the World cup. He is a former U19 WC Winning captain and some one who is a fighting character.
 
There are very few options.

At this stage, I imagine the following happening:

1. Misbah-ul-Haq retires after failure either against Australia and New Zealand or at the World Cup.

2. Mohammad Hafeez ends up promoted almost by default, but has a horror two years in which his batting is poor and the team fails recurrently in the absence of the banned players, of whom only Amir is initially recalled.

3. Pakistan lose to England in the UAE in 2015 and then away to New Zealand and Sri Lanka in early 2016. Only Amir of the banned players has been recalled, and he is the only player performing.

4. By mid-2016, with the team losing everywhere it plays, the PCB finally succumbs to pressure for Asif and Butt to return for the 4 Test tour of England. They immediately perform, and the team now consists basically of the three fixers, Sarfraz, Umar Akmal and six failures.

5. Hafeez is finally forced to retire himself, and there is no other candidate for the captaincy apart from Sarfraz, Salman Butt and Umar Akmal.

I fear that the longer Butt and Asif are ignored after they become eligible, the more the PCB will ensure that Salman Butt will eventually return as the captain.

Horrifying, but possible.
 
Junaids said:
There are very few options.

At this stage, I imagine the following happening:

1. Misbah-ul-Haq retires after failure either against Australia and New Zealand or at the World Cup.

2. Mohammad Hafeez ends up promoted almost by default, but has a horror two years in which his batting is poor and the team fails recurrently in the absence of the banned players, of whom only Amir is initially recalled.

3. Pakistan lose to England in the UAE in 2015 and then away to New Zealand and Sri Lanka in early 2016. Only Amir of the banned players has been recalled, and he is the only player performing.

4. By mid-2016, with the team losing everywhere it plays, the PCB finally succumbs to pressure for Asif and Butt to return for the 4 Test tour of England. They immediately perform, and the team now consists basically of the three fixers, Sarfraz, Umar Akmal and six failures.

5. Hafeez is finally forced to retire himself, and there is no other candidate for the captaincy apart from Sarfraz, Salman Butt and Umar Akmal.

I fear that the longer Butt and Asif are ignored after they become eligible, the more the PCB will ensure that Salman Butt will eventually return as the captain.

Horrifying, but possible.
Click to expand...

Salman Butt can't come in this team until Shehzad is performing.
 
The sarfraz we are seeing now is finally reminds me the great u 19 captain. Vocal and confident

If he gets through the coming test series and the World Cup without embarrassing himself, they he should really take captaincy

Big if, but it can be done
 
Hamzakhalid said:
Salman Butt can't come in this team until Shehzad is performing.
Click to expand...

Bear in mind that Misbah is officially 40 years of age and Younis Khan is widely assumed to be 38 or 39. When they go, your middle-order will be weak. In addition, if Hafeez is to be the new skipper he will have to drop down the order or else be humiliated in England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

All in all, that suggests to me that Hafeez will probably captain the side in every format from number 6 in the batting order, presumably
leaving a team looking something like this for the England tour in 20 months' time:

1. Shehzad
2. Butt
3. Azhar Ali
4. Umar Akmal
5. Asad Shafiq
6. Mohammed Hafeez (captain)
7. Sarfraz
8. Ehsan Adil
9. Amir
10. Junaid
11. Asif

I'm not saying that the PCB will recall Asif and Butt immediately. I'm arguing the opposite: they will try only to recall Amir, and will get hammered by England and New Zealand and Sri Lanka and will then turn to Asif and Butt.

But if you look at the team that I'm anticipating, you will see that the only real captaincy options are Sarfraz and Butt once Hafeez is exposed as an inadequate player.
 
Junaids said:
There are very few options.

At this stage, I imagine the following happening:

1. Misbah-ul-Haq retires after failure either against Australia and New Zealand or at the World Cup.

2. Mohammad Hafeez ends up promoted almost by default, but has a horror two years in which his batting is poor and the team fails recurrently in the absence of the banned players, of whom only Amir is initially recalled.

3. Pakistan lose to England in the UAE in 2015 and then away to New Zealand and Sri Lanka in early 2016. Only Amir of the banned players has been recalled, and he is the only player performing.

4. By mid-2016, with the team losing everywhere it plays, the PCB finally succumbs to pressure for Asif and Butt to return for the 4 Test tour of England. They immediately perform, and the team now consists basically of the three fixers, Sarfraz, Umar Akmal and six failures.

5. Hafeez is finally forced to retire himself, and there is no other candidate for the captaincy apart from Sarfraz, Salman Butt and Umar Akmal.

I fear that the longer Butt and Asif are ignored after they become eligible, the more the PCB will ensure that Salman Butt will eventually return as the captain.

Horrifying, but possible.
Click to expand...

why are so sure no younger player will step up by then? Butt won't captain Pakistan again if he does then i'll stop wasting my time watching this team.
 
Butt will never be captain again, might be a small smidgen of chance he will play but he will never captain
 
Salman butt will be old + public won't accept him.

Hammad Azam has captaincy potential to even tough he is average but i expect him to come in contention in at least 20 over format once he becomes part of the team.

Umer Amin is still young and talented and has captaincy potential.

Asad Shafiq will surely become Captain Pakistan one day.

Azhar Ali also have very good chances so does Ahmed Shehzad.

Sarfraz is the best option i think we have.
 
Salman Butt was a mediocre batsman. He is not coming to the team any case. Even Amir will take around 1 to 2 years in Domestic to make it back.
 
If he demotes himself down the order and decides to become a very poor man's Dhoni, I don't have a problem with it.

Needs to up his body language though, still looks like a guinea pig early in his innings. A captain should execute confidence and have a certain aura.
 
Hamzakhalid said:
Salman Butt was a mediocre batsman. He is not coming to the team any case. Even Amir will take around 1 to 2 years in Domestic to make it back.
Click to expand...

Butt wasn't the next big thing, but he was easily one of our better openers post-Saeed Anwar and he was always a good ODI batsman, but he was shedding the ODI-specialist tag around the time he got banned.

Had a great World T20 and was very good against Australia in England. Had a poor series vs England but there are hardly 5-6 batsman in the world who would have done well the unusually difficult conditions of that English summer.

4 years on and he hasn't been replaced; at the moment, he walks straight back into the team as an opener along with Shehzad.

He has 6/7 years in him still, just turned 30 and I see no reason why he cannot comeback unless Sami Aslam cements his place. Can't see Sharjeel/Sarfraz keeping him out.
 
Sarfaraz needs a consistent run and having said that some margin of error too. He is doing well he has shown he has character and attitude and is willing to learn and improve.
 
Mamoon said:
Butt wasn't the next big thing, but he was easily one of our better openers post-Saeed Anwar and he was always a good ODI batsman, but he was shedding the ODI-specialist tag around the time he got banned.

Had a great World T20 and was very good against Australia in England. Had a poor series vs England but there are hardly 5-6 batsman in the world who would have done well the unusually difficult conditions of that English summer.

4 years on and he hasn't been replaced; at the moment, he walks straight back into the team as an opener along with Shehzad.

He has 6/7 years in him still, just turned 30 and I see no reason why he cannot comeback unless Sami Aslam cements his place. Can't see Sharjeel/Sarfraz keeping him out.
Click to expand...
Butt is not long term option. He has just bullied india. I would have anyone over Butt. He seemed Farhatesque to me and poor on off stump. Surely in 30s after a long gap in cricket I don't see him coming back. We need someone better, How can you be happy with a mediocre Salman Butt. Ahmed Shehzad is a much better batsman.
 
Some people want 3 guys that took money to throw matches back in the team. These guys should never ever play for Pakistan again.
 
wait until sarfaraz proves himself outside asia against strong bowling line up... Now he is riding on the best form of his life, First lets see whether he uses his form of life to capitalize and make it big every game, like how KOHLI made his form of life to the best and was riding on it for the last 2-3 years and was even named as the run scoring machine... Suddenly when they see the name Kohli in my comment they would start saying Im comparing sarfraz with kohli.. they should better test their english...
 
aukhan said:
Salman butt will be old + public won't accept him.

Hammad Azam has captaincy potential to even tough he is average but i expect him to come in contention in at least 20 over format once he becomes part of the team.

Umer Amin is still young and talented and has captaincy potential.

Asad Shafiq will surely become Captain Pakistan one day.

Azhar Ali also have very good chances so does Ahmed Shehzad.

Sarfraz is the best option i think we have.
Click to expand...

Did you not read my "cold, hard facts" thread?

Salman Butt is virtually identical in age to Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali, it's absurd to call him old and then inflate their chances. I'm not even going to dignify the Umar Amin comment with a response other than to say that I have never changed the view I formed of him in England in 2010: completely useless player who cannot even harbour ambitions to ever rise to mediocrity. I'd rather bat Mohammad Irfan in the top order than Umar Amin, and no, I'm not exaggerating.

I hate the idea of Salman Butt ever becoming captain again, but if the team excludes him and Asif, and performs badly, then I believe the public pressure will almost entirely be for their return, not their continued exclusion.

I've never been to Pakistan, and I'm not planning to. But around the world sports fans crave success, not integrity. I will be very surprised if Pakistan's fans don't latch onto the three fixers as potential saviours when their bans are completed.

The PCB's situation is a horrible dilemma: if you exclude Asif and Butt and fail you actually make them into indispensable members of the team and potentially end up captive to them.
 
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Who was the last test captain from outside the Punjab? And what happened to him? I'm just saying......
 
I have never been Sarfrazs biggest fan but finally he is looking like he belongs at this level. I still prefer to see him at 7, playing the old Moin a khan role as the finisher. As far as the captaincy is concerned, anybody with a decent run will have a chance after Misbah but my money is on YK coming back as the test skipper.
 
Looking good so far, needs to score big in the test matches, as suggested. May be a year or so down the road. We have to give hafeez the undignified exit he deserves post World Cup and then maybe....
 
Hamzakhalid said:
Butt is not long term option. He has just bullied india. I would have anyone over Butt. He seemed Farhatesque to me and poor on off stump. Surely in 30s after a long gap in cricket I don't see him coming back. We need someone better, How can you be happy with a mediocre Salman Butt. Ahmed Shehzad is a much better batsman.
Click to expand...

I personally rate Butt and I won't close the door to him because we aren't blessed with a plethora of openers.

The only way he must have played his last game for Pakistan is if Sami Aslam shows decent credentials. Babar Azam doesn't seem to be in selectors' plans for now.
 
I know this is unwelcome news for the masses, but at this point, Shafiq looks certain to be the next Test captain.

2011-12 > next in line > Hafeez > lost his way

2013 > next in line > Azhar > lost his way

2014-2015 > next in line > Shafiq

Barring a dramatic loss in form, I don't see Sarfraz/Shehzad/Fawad/Maqsood/Younis getting ahead of him in the line of succession.
 
Butt was a poor test batsman and should never be back in the test team.

On morals he should never be back in any team.
 
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