Should Sarfaraz Ahmed have been removed as Pakistan Test skipper?

[MenInG]

Looking at Azhar Ali's current performances, the question needs to be asked whether it was right for Sarfaraz to be removed as Test captain - was he that bad?

 

[PakPremi]

With Sarfraz we would have had same dilema his batting has gone downhill big time and now do not deserve place in the team.

 

[Mesozoic]

Who's the better WK batsman between Rizwan and Sarrfraz ?

Well there you go.

 

[sweep_shot]

I think Shan should be the captain. Alternatively, Babar can lead.

Pakistan shouldn't go back to Sarfaraz.

 

[Major]

Sarfraz as a captian wasnt bad. The problem with sarfraz was his batting. He was doing bad in odis as a batsmen and had to be dropped. His captaincy in odis wasnt bad. as a captain he was good.

In test, he cannot be forgiven for losing in uae. He played under misbah he knows better than mickey tha spin plays a factor here yet he went with one spinner.

Maybe in test misbah could had continued with him, guided him with the right players..but sarfraz had bad batting performance. I think misbah never expected azhar to be this bad in form.

But there is anothet problem. Misbah was a captain who took charge. He didnt need waqar younis his coach what to do. He didnt need dave whatmore or mohsin khan or even mickey arthur what do. He took decisions

When moin khan became coach or maneger he was a problem for misbah as he tried to play his playing 11. But rest of the coaches didnt need to intervene.

Now yhe ptoblem woth sarfraz and azhar is that these fools cant make the right decisions themselves and they need coaches to come up with game strategy.

Sarfraz showed us hos cluelessness in uae. Azhar was given a pass on australia as no one has one there, but yestersay when 70 runs were left, he did look clueless

 

[El Generico]

Should have been removed as ODI captain but stayed on for a couple more years for Test and T20s.

 

[Major]

I think Shan should be the captain. Alternatively, Babar can lead.

Pakistan shouldn't go back to Sarfaraz.

Lets be realistic. Shan was droppped and missed on stumping. Had he not even crossed 40 runs. People wouldnt talk about him being captain.

Captain shpuld be someone who has had domestic experience of making tactics and strategies.

I wonder if babar azam is that person. Was babar ever captain before 2019? What about fawad alam

 

[Invincible Gujjar]

Shukkar rabba that loser of a player doesn't play anymore. He was an embarrassment.He lost a series in UAE he was an awful captain an awful batsman and even more awful keeper.I hope he never gets selected in playing 11 ever again

 

[MenInG]

Shukkar rabba that loser of a player doesn't play anymore. He was an embarrassment.He lost a series in UAE he was an awful captain an awful batsman and even more awful keeper.I hope he never gets selected in playing 11 ever again

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pakistan's last 7 Tests outside Pak/UAE<br><br>Lost inngs & 55 runs vs Eng, Leeds<br>Lost 6 wkts vs SA, Centurion<br>Lost 9 wkts vs SA, Cape Town<br>Lost 107 runs vs SA, Joburg<br>Lost inngs & 5 runs vs Aus, Brisbane<br>Lost inngs & 48 runs vs Aus, Adelaide<br>Lost by 3 wkts vs Eng, Manchester<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/1292155084441292807?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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[MenInG]

Would appointing Sarfaraz as captain again in Tests be a retrogressive step?

 

[Energy]

Sarfaraz was equally poor. Remember him averaging much higher than 40 at the start of his career, and its dropped to mid-30s now meaning he was terribly out of form with the bat. Azhar and Asad have done the same.

 

[Extra_Cover]

Pakistan should move on from likes of Sarfraz, Azhar, Asad and Abid. I have said it before we have a very welcome break coming up after this series and all the deadweights should be offloaded in this break.

Pakistan should organise QEA within this period and identify players that it wants to represent Pakistan cricket in next WTC.

Ideally the captaincy should be with Babar as he is the long term captaincy contender. Shan would be a pitstop like Azhar. I hope Babar is given captaincy and vice captaincy is declared for Shan, this way Shan would be able to help Babar a lot more with decision making.

 

[anakwalajinn]

I wonder if babar azam is that person. Was babar ever captain before 2019? What about fawad alam

Fawad has plenty of captaincy experience from both the domestic level and Pakistan A.

 

[Infinitee786]

Yes. It’s as simple as that. The fact of the matter remains he was the only captain who demonstrated the ability to man manage his players and make astute decisions in recent times

The problem is everyone wants to equate captaincy to on field batting performance. Granted, the captain should be performing and leading from the front but, having said that, we actually have no one in that dressing room who is a tactician that can be utilised as our captain. Unfortunately people immediately want someone who plays well to immediately be our captain but fail to realise that the captaincy in cricket is an entirely different ball game. It requires lots of preparation and understanding of the opposition, rehearsing and implementation of fields and understanding which bowlers will be suited for which conditions or opposition.

Personally I would bring back Sarfraz as our captain for the short term in order to guide our young bowlers.

I think it’s time we admit Pakistan cricket is not up to standard and use this time to groom our players and give them experience and mould them . I would write off the next couple of years in terms of results and spend that time harnessing our young talent in our bowlers and batsmen and find someone within our domestic infrastructure that shows signs of being a master tactician/strategist.

I would be keeping an eye on Shadab who I believe at his age seems to have a brilliant understanding of field placements for his age and i would suggest can be touted as captain potential. I would try him out as captain in LOI with a view to bringing him in as captain in the test side.

 

[shady]

Oh my god yes, it was obviously way too overwhelming for him in tests. He lost his composure multiple times. Just because Azhar's also bad doesn't make Sarfraz not bad in hindsight. Also there is no justification to play him as first choice keeper over Rizwan, he should be entrenched as backup keeper unless Rizwan gets hurt.

 

[IMMY69]

He should never have been removed from the test captaincy.

ODI/T20’s yes sure but not from tests..
I have absolutely no doubt that Pakistan would be leading the series 1-0 had Safaraz been captain

 

[IMMY69]

Oh my god yes, it was obviously way too overwhelming for him in tests. He lost his composure multiple times. Just because Azhar's also bad doesn't make Sarfraz not bad in hindsight. Also there is no justification to play him as first choice keeper over Rizwan, he should be entrenched as backup keeper unless Rizwan gets hurt.

Actually that’s quiet a bit of nonsense you’ve just come out with...

In our loses in the UAE it was safaraz’s captaincy that got us into winning positions, just our dimwit batsmen (mainly Azhar and Shafiq) who couldn’t get us over the line.

Instead of beating the kiwis three nil we ended up losing 2-1 which was all down to the batting.

 

[ChTab]

Sarfraz was quite decent in limited overs, but he was terrible captain in test matches, he lost series vs SL & NZ at UAE & that was criminal should've sacked him after series lost vs SL. Plus his batting & fitness was a big issue as well. He became complacent after winning CT & that was the main reason for his downfall, he could've become a legend for Pakistan an ATG great for Pakistan only if he had worked hard but alas.

 

[ZamanFan]

Sarfaraz and Arthur have faced a lot of hayred and pathetic attacks. Some members diverted others blame onto him as well example the first test vs New Zealand in UAE 2018 where snowflake under pressure Azhar ali needed to make 5 runs to win the game could'nt put the team over the line and made second string left armer patel a hero. The blame was diverted away from him towards Sarfaraz and Arthur by a certain mafia inside PCB, press as well as on social media.

Issue isn't Sarfaraz being replaced. Issue was to replace him with Misbah or anyone whom the mafia likes. They can easily bring in Inzamam as well anotger mafia favorite. Decisions are made by few in BoG (Board of Governors ) and PCB insiders who look to protect certain individuals they dont care Pakistan cricket suffers or loses. Thankgully knew this result the day Misbah was made head coach and vhief selector and had mourned there and then.

 

[Fahdi]

Sarfraz as a captain was fine but the problem was he couldn't justify his spot in the team. His performance with the bat was well below par and he had terrible fitness. He deserved to be dropped and sacked as skipper. But to then hand over the captaincy to Azhar Ali was an absolute farce. Azhar had demonstrated no leadership qualities, he was a terrible LOI captain and was pretty much done as a batsman by that point.

 

[ChTab]

He should never have been removed from the test captaincy.

ODI/T20’s yes sure but not from tests..
I have absolutely no doubt that Pakistan would be leading the series 1-0 had Safaraz been captain

Bro are you kidding, he was 10 times worse captain in test as compared to Azhar. Azhar captaincy was spot on for 75% of the game & I remember every one was praising him for his feild settings & everything. I don't know what happened to the team in last session but it's not a good idea to blame Azhar as a capatain. Pakistani batting in 2nd inns is the reason we lost this test match & we should blame every batter for that. Shan for playing that ball which was down the legside, Abid for that brain fade moment.

 

[shady]

Actually that’s quiet a bit of nonsense you’ve just come out with...

In our loses in the UAE it was safaraz’s captaincy that got us into winning positions, just our dimwit batsmen (mainly Azhar and Shafiq) who couldn’t get us over the line.

Instead of beating the kiwis three nil we ended up losing 2-1 which was all down to the batting.

Captaincy isn't just about getting one or two tactical decisions right. It's also about tone-setting both with your play and with your presence on the field. Sarfraz's intensity as a captain is good in the shorter formats but it isn't suitable to tests at all. You can't have a captain who's constantly yelling at his players and who always looks restless. On top of that the rest of his game fell dramatically under the burden of captaincy even his wicketkeeping. I stand by what I said, there is no justification to play him as first choice keeper over Rizwan and definitely no justification to make him test captain again.

 

[MMHS]

I think, it was justified to remove him since individually he wasn’t performing. In fact, at first point he shouldn’t have been appointed as captain. A WKeeping job is the most rowdy & busy job in the game - it’s not wise to appoint WK as captain. There is a reason why some of the greatest WKeepers were never made Captain despite being one of the most astute thinkers in the team - PCB appointed him for three formats!!!! Making WK Captain is inflexibility as well - only one specialist spot and you shouldn’t block it with an irreplaceable player. Keeping Sarfraz Captain means Rizwan won’t have made it or played (& judged) as a specialist bat - either way it would have been injustice.

Now, whether Azhar was the right replacement or not has very little to do with Sarfraz’s sacking - one bigger mistake shouldn’t justify another previous one. I do rate Sarfraz as captain and I think he is much better leader (& tactician) than Azhar, but still his sacking was justified - he lost Test series against SRL & NZ at home (UAE) & personally underperformed. It’ll be justified to sack Azhar as well, but bigger blunder will be to go back to Sarfraz.

 

[ZamanFan]

I think, it was justified to remove him since individually he wasn’t performing. In fact, at first point he shouldn’t have been appointed as captain. A WKeeping job is the most rowdy & busy job in the game - it’s not wise to appoint WK as captain. There is a reason why some of the greatest WKeepers were never made Captain despite being one of the most astute thinkers in the team - PCB appointed him for three formats!!!! Making WK Captain is inflexibility as well - only one specialist spot and you shouldn’t block it with an irreplaceable player. Keeping Sarfraz Captain means Rizwan won’t have made it or played (& judged) as a specialist bat - either way it would have been injustice.

Now, whether Azhar was the right replacement or not has very little to do with Sarfraz’s sacking - one bigger mistake shouldn’t justify another previous one. I do rate Sarfraz as captain and I think he is much better leader (& tactician) than Azhar, but still his sacking was justified - he lost Test series against SRL & NZ at home (UAE) & personally underperformed. It’ll be justified to sack Azhar as well, but bigger blunder will be to go back to Sarfraz.

If Sarfaraz sacking is justified why Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali remain in the team? Waste of time to argue with some. Sarfaraz was taken out to bring in their favorite Misbah, PCB wanted Sarfaraz to resign it was Sarfraz insistence that PCB sacks him. Pcb had not known Misbah wanting Azhar Ali as captain. There is pure politics and ill-intentioned decision making going on. Pcb literally bend to the wishes of the mafia as Misbah had zero experience as selector or coach.

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="in" dir="ltr">Bhayya InshA Allah… you are a great man &#55357;&#56908;&#55356;&#57339;&#55357;&#56908;&#55356;&#57339;</p>— Azhar Ali (@AzharAli_) <a href="https://twitter.com/AzharAli_/status/1292760557276274691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Abdullah719]

At the end of the day, neither of them is up to the mark with the bat. Azhar even more so considering that he’s a main batsman of the team.

 

[MMHS]

If Sarfaraz sacking is justified why Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali remain in the team? Waste of time to argue with some. Sarfaraz was taken out to bring in their favorite Misbah, PCB wanted Sarfaraz to resign it was Sarfraz insistence that PCB sacks him. Pcb had not known Misbah wanting Azhar Ali as captain. There is pure politics and ill-intentioned decision making going on. Pcb literally bend to the wishes of the mafia as Misbah had zero experience as selector or coach.

Asad probably still makes the PAK Test XI on merit - please get it into your system from someone watching & following PAK cricket more than most Pakistanis, now into 4th decade. This is a rotten generation of PAK cricket which is 7th in Test ranking (will most likely go to 8th after English tour out of 8 serious Test playing nations in world), and a LO team whose fans boast on being above Bangladesh in ranking. You never know what Asad’s replacements will do. He could have taken the game away from England in third innings, but had to be run out, because PAK didn’t deserve to win that Test; more so England didn’t deserve to lose it after that sort of resurgence.

Azhar has done wonders for PAK Test team - they made a blunder of appointing him captain which makes him undroppable but he should be in the squad, selection in playing XI depending on contemporary form (he did get a hundred in practice game). Problem for PCT is that they have systematically created a generation gap where Babar is only quality batsman in his 20s, and now stuck with Azhar, Asad after the inevitable retirement of Misbah, YK and Hafeez. Ideally, PAK team now should have players like Sami, Saud, Umar, Babar, Haris, Shan, Imam, Fakhar..... forming the core of batting instead of Abid, Azhar, Asad, Fawad, Iftekhar...... but that not for Misbah the Coach/Selector; rather may be for Misbah the powerful Captain for over 6 years.

All this has absolutely nothing to do with Sarfraz’s sacking bro - he had to go.

 

[Junaids]

Looking at Azhar Ali's current performances, the question needs to be asked whether it was right for Sarfaraz to be removed as Test captain - was he that bad?

The problem is that he isn’t as good as Mohammad Rizwan.

Shan Masood should be the skipper until the end of the 21-23 World Test Championship cycle. And then Shadab Khan.

 

[the Great Khan]

no it wasnt right to remove sarfraz. For all intents and purposes this should have bee his tour. He would have attacked without a doubt. Why? because this was a typical Pakistan situation. he would have known what do. Azhar needs to go. If he cant win a test when everything is in our favour we have zero chance of winning a test match.

 

[Titan24]

It was completely valid to remove Sarfaraz as captain from tests. Azhar being a poor captain doesnt mean Sarfaraz was a good captain, home series losses against Srl and NZ sealed the fate of Sarfaraz and Mickey. Sarfaraz not maintaining a reasonable fitness also didnt do him any good along with his own horrible from with the bat in tests.

Rizwan is possibly a better keeper and potentially a better batsman and not to forget he is around 5 years younger as well. I was a fan of Sarfaraz when he was initially appointed and he was going well until pretty poor couple of years in every facet, going back to him would be backward step which Pak cricket cant afford.

No point in keep on going up and down the stairs. Non performing captains rarely achieve much, post Azhar it has to be one of either Babar or Shan. Both have been our top batsmen in last year or so, have reasonable amount of tests under their belt, I would have preferred more performances and experience but that is the best we have got.

 

[Syed1]

Even on his worst day Sarfaraz was head and shoulders above Azhar Ali.


If they wanted a new captain they could have given it to Babar or Shan. What’s the point of giving it to a failing 35 year old other than him just being Misbah’s Messenger on the field. Before finding a new captain we need to fire the shameless beghairat who hired Azhar.

 

[Bewal Express]

Although I think Rizwan did well, if Sarfraz had been Captain, England wouldnt have won so easily in the end. AA is close to 40, he can't bat and isn't a thinking captain

 

[Invincible Gujjar]

At the end of the day, neither of them is up to the mark with the bat. Azhar even more so considering that he’s a main batsman of the team.

He was absolute worst that loser sarfraz. The worst captain Pakistan has ever had.He lost to Srilanka and New zealand in UAE that was blasphemous.I really hope he never plays for national team in any of the format.

 

[ZamanFan]

Asad probably still makes the PAK Test XI on merit - please get it into your system from someone watching & following PAK cricket more than most Pakistanis, now into 4th decade. This is a rotten generation of PAK cricket which is 7th in Test ranking (will most likely go to 8th after English tour out of 8 serious Test playing nations in world), and a LO team whose fans boast on being above Bangladesh in ranking. You never know what Asad’s replacements will do. He could have taken the game away from England in third innings, but had to be run out, because PAK didn’t deserve to win that Test; more so England didn’t deserve to lose it after that sort of resurgence.

Azhar has done wonders for PAK Test team - they made a blunder of appointing him captain which makes him undroppable but he should be in the squad, selection in playing XI depending on contemporary form (he did get a hundred in practice game). Problem for PCT is that they have systematically created a generation gap where Babar is only quality batsman in his 20s, and now stuck with Azhar, Asad after the inevitable retirement of Misbah, YK and Hafeez. Ideally, PAK team now should have players like Sami, Saud, Umar, Babar, Haris, Shan, Imam, Fakhar..... forming the core of batting instead of Abid, Azhar, Asad, Fawad, Iftekhar...... but that not for Misbah the Coach/Selector; rather may be for Misbah the powerful Captain for over 6 years.

All this has absolutely nothing to do with Sarfraz’s sacking bro - he had to go.

Rotten generation? How many batting performers were given chances in last 4 years ? How many batsmen barring Babar Azam (Akmal cousin) has been groomed and given proper run in the team? On what kind of pitches Osman Salahuddin, Falhar Zaman were made to debut. Would mMisbah have played Malik and Hafeez on those pitches facing the new bowl?

Azhar Ali averages 11 un last 2 years what wonders he has done for Pakistan, he shouldn't be in the team. His domestic team preferred injured Sohaib Maqsood over Azhar. These jokes are not even taken seriously in domestics. Arthur had thrown him out of the odi side knowing his midget mentality and goving zero fight. Blaming Sarfaraz alone for keeping this p***hi batting of Shafiq and Azhar, and blaming him for not selecting first rate performers for domestics is ridiculous. He was a powerless captain who used to fight in the middle but executed plans of Coach Mickey Arthur and biased selections of Inzamam ul Haq. Sarfaraz carried Imam ul Haq is not his fault.

 

[coy0607]

Two wrongs don't make a right. Sarfraz wasn't performing in Tests, his captaincy was okay - definitely not good enough to have him play as a specialist captain. He was correctly removed, probably a year late in Tests.

Azhar was the worst possible replacement. Aging, way past his prime, and proven failure as a captain.

 

[MMHS]

Rotten generation? How many batting performers were given chances in last 4 years ? How many batsmen barring Babar Azam (Akmal cousin) has been groomed and given proper run in the team? On what kind of pitches Osman Salahuddin, Falhar Zaman were made to debut. Would mMisbah have played Malik and Hafeez on those pitches facing the new bowl?

Azhar Ali averages 11 un last 2 years what wonders he has done for Pakistan, he shouldn't be in the team. His domestic team preferred injured Sohaib Maqsood over Azhar. These jokes are not even taken seriously in domestics. Arthur had thrown him out of the odi side knowing his midget mentality and goving zero fight. Blaming Sarfaraz alone for keeping this p***hi batting of Shafiq and Azhar, and blaming him for not selecting first rate performers for domestics is ridiculous. He was a powerless captain who used to fight in the middle but executed plans of Coach Mickey Arthur and biased selections of Inzamam ul Haq. Sarfaraz carried Imam ul Haq is not his fault.

You have absolutely no idea how poor this PAK team is and how much quality has gone down from the time I started watching cricket. You haven’t seen that level therefore I can’t convince you. Every PAK player on bench or outside squad seems to be the missing link here at PP until some of them are given chances. Don’t even think that I am backing Misbah or justifying Azhar’s selection - but reality is, in a 17 member combined squad, 4, may be 5, max 6 PAK player will make it from this series. And, apart from Babar and Yasir on favourable conditions, gap with other players are massive, massive. I have read enough hypes around Shaheen & Naseem - not every day they’ll play SRL & BD at home.

We can blame coaches or selectors but honestly speaking the barrel is empty. Yes, best thing for PAK to do is to sacrifice couple of years under a strong, hard working Captain, take punches with a young team and raise from rock bottom (as I can see, a 3-0 will take PAK to rank 8) - this is something Australia did in early 80s under Border; PAK don’t have a Border (no one has, cricket is losing its characters) but I honestly believe someone like Shan can install some sort of accountability in PAK team because guy is an honest trier, educated as well.

Having said that, there is absolutely no reason to pick Azhar as captain or players like Fawad, Iftekhar, Sohail, Imran, Kashif ....... but still at the same time young players like Shadab, Imam, Haider, Hasnain, Rizwan, Babar, Shaheen, Naseem, Musa........ has to justify their inclusion (read hype) - being young is an advantage, should not be a privilege. After all that hype, it required two innings from Malik & Hafeez to beat a depleted BD team in PAK’s strongest suit, at home - it should have been an eye opener.

 

[fitCricFan]

It should have happened a lot earlier but in Sarfraz's defense, his batting was affected by the burden of his captaincy but he can only do so much with a bunch of mediocre players. Cricket is a team game and you need to perform as a team, consistently, to win. One off wins based solely on bowling or batting are very very few and not a parameter of a team's performance.

MMHS has accurately described it. Its a problem with the infrastructure and the ability to identify, nurture and promote talent. It all takes money, a whole lot of it, to do some or all of it. Its the same crap that has now been mentioned for a decade by the PCB and yet nothing has happened. Everytime the team looses, their is talk about bringing back other mediocre players and the musical chairs continues.

Pakistan cricket is not what it used to be. To revive,it will require a lot of investment, both in terms of money and commitment to see the betterment of the game in the country. If it cant happen now, with IK as the PM, you bet it wont happen when he is gone. Meanwhile you can continue to gloat and celebrate on-off victories where-ever we can score one.

It might be depressing to read all this but it is what it is.

 

[Abdullah719]

Sikandar Bakht feels that Sarfaraz was removed as captain on IK’s demand because he failed to “listen to an influential person.”

Spoiler