Who should Captain Pakistan?

[masterblaster]

I say give it back to Wasim, he is a very good captain, to me Waqar doesnt support his troops enough, and isnt very inspirational himself.

 

[full_length]

Wasim was an inspirational captain. He got the side together, though he probably thinks his side's batsmen simply make up numbers.
But is he a good option now?

 

[royGilchrist]

Inzimam

 

[marc71178]

Wasim is set to retire in 3 or 4 months, and IMO is not an automatic pick any more.

 

[Andre]

Wasim has been banned from ever captaining Pakistan again due to his max-fixing things, I dont know where he did or didnt do it or what. However, Waqar is a good captain. It was not his fault his team was hammered. But my personal choice is Rashid Latif, he is great for cricket everywhere.

 

[Tim]

Rashid may be an excellent glovesman, but i don't think the Pakistan selectors will care for that too much as he has struggled with the bat.

In their minds, their team is not getting enough runs so he will be chopped for Moin Khan in my opinion, who will also return to captain the side just because Waqar was let down by his team-mates.

 

[royGilchrist]

Rashid and Moin's batting averages are virtually the same in test matches, but the discrepancy in catches taken is astonishing. In a little more than half the test matches Latif has taken almost the same number of catches!

Matches: Moin=63, Latif=34
Catches: Moin=114, Latif=102

Unfortunately cricket as I was saying before does not keep track of the catches dropped, as that would also show some disturbing trends for Moin i.e. Taken to dropped ratio.

 

[yorker]

In my opinion there isn't any need to change the captain.The team that was skipped by Waqar and that lost to Aus would have met the same fate had it been skipped by any other player, Waqar can hardly be blamed for it.

Inzi/Akhter cannot be considered for captaincy as they are injury prone. Rashid Lateef is a good player but he fared very poorly as a captain before, so he shouldn't be considered atall.

If Moin is brought back as a captain then Waqar might fail to retain his place in onedayer team.

 

[sean]

Does it really matter? I wouldn't change it, because the captain can't go out and bat/bowl/field for the other 10 blokes who are letting you down.

 

[Rik]

If Waqar doesn't keep the job then I think Yohanna should be captain, he's a settled member of the team, a bright and still quite young man and with a good head on his shoulders. Inzamam was very very unimpressive when he captained the side in NZ.

 

[Gotchya]

Waqar is the best man in the team for the job. Although he hasn't been very inspirational in the last few months, he is still one of the better personalities in the team.

 

[wasims_fan]

i say wasim should be a better choice because his performance as a captain is much better than waqar.

 

[Gotchya]

Wasim has managed to tarnish his image, moreover he's on his way out of international cricket, wont make sense to give it to him, but ofcourse i wont be surprised if that happens either !

 

[marc71178]

Originally posted by wasims_fan
i say wasim should be a better choice because his performance as a captain is much better than waqar.

Captain should be an automatic pick for the team.

 

[Anil]

Waqar or maybe Latif? Chopping and changing the team and more importantly the captain with the WC not far away may not be a wise move. Besides, Akram is on the fast track to retirement and Anwar seems to have lost interest in the game according to the Pak selectors.

 

[royGilchrist]

I think for now Waqar might be the safest choice, but if and when a change becomes due, most probably due to Waqar's inability to get selected on his performance as a player, Inzimam should be the choice. Im not saying he will succeede but just that he should be given ample time to prove himself, if he is a failure try someone else. The reasons:

-Automatic selection for either ODI and tests - As Top_Cat successfully argued in another thread, there shoul be one common captain for both forms of the game. No one fits the bill better than Inzi. Saqi, Razzaq etc are questionalable for both forms.

-Atleast 4-5 yrs remaining in his career - Others like Youhanna, Razzaq, fit this category but so does Inzi.

-Has respect and support from other team members - Inzi again is the number in this category. Latif will have PR problems inevitably (unfortunately), Youhanna and Razzaq etc will not have the same respect and hence the same control over the team i.e. from senior players like Inzi and Latif. In Pak cricket this is of the utmost importance, unlike Eng for example, where in Stewart and Atherton's presence, Nasir was still successful.

-Undaunted by pressure - Although these days with so much ODI cricket, and professionalism every international has enough skills to cope with pressure situations, Inzi in my opinion does it better than others.

-Knowledge of the game - Im not sure about Inzi's knowledge of the game, but I have seen many successful captains of the past who did not have such an astute knowledge of the game, and some unsuccessful ones who were cricketing geniuses. So this is a bit of a non-factor in my opinion.

-Positively impact the players, and make them play as a team - By far the most important trait for a cricket captain, and every successful captain has possessed this, but the only way to tell will be if Inzi is given an extended stint to prove this. I think he will do well in this department.

 

[Gotchya]

But one aspect which will be a thorn here (Inzimam's captaining Pakistan) is his attitude. What I mean is he would rather stand in the slips all day rather than run in the field all day and think about all those petty decisions a captain is required to make. He's always come across to me as a subdued behind the curtain type of performer, sure he's aggressive but his man management will be lacking some major things. Otherwise, i dont see too many (wise) candidates for the slot at present.

A few years back, maybe perhaps would have given Anwar a chance, but even then his form with the bat was fickle, I always thought he could lead Pakistan well, from the front literally, but after the sad death of his daughter and consequently his involvement in religion has probably made him drift away from the game.

 

[Top_Cat]

Well I'm going to go against all of you and say Abdul Razzaq.

I think the guy has a ton of potential as a player and some undiscovered (even by himself) ability as a leader. I just get the feeling that putting some responsibility on his shoulders would bring out the best in him.

Don't ask me to give a rational reason; just call it a 'vibe' I get from him. I just saw some things in his short innings in the first-innings of the second Test against Australia which said this to me. I don't know why.

 

[yorker]

Atleast till the WC the captain should be Waqar, PCB did the wise thing by retaining him as a captain.

Inzamam has a fitness problem, infact he was supposed to undergo a surgery which would have put him out of the WC.He had delayed the surgery and is getting steroid injections, still its to be seen if he can make it to the cup, after the cup he will undergo surgery and as well hang his boots!

I'm not sure if Lateef will be in the WC squad.If Kamran Akmal fares well with the bat and the Gloves then he might get the nod for the WC , especially since Kamran opens the innings and Pak is desperately looking for a new opener now that Anwar is out!


Razzak should be the man to lead the Pak team after the WC, Youhanna can also be a good choice!

 

[Gotchya]

Well I'm going to go against all of you and say Abdul Razzaq

In the previous post i had a very strong urge to say likewise.......but he's frail as of yet, maybe a year or two down the road and he will be my number one candidate.