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Should Afridi be Test Captain?
By Tabrez Janjua for Stani Army in Pakistan Cricket
74 ViewsWith Shahid Afridi announcing his return to the Test scene, is he nailed on to become captain in all three formats? If the recent Twenty20 World Cup was anything to go by, he certainly still has a lot to learn as captain, but this was probably to be expected.
The good thing is that Test game is much slower paced than Twenty20 and will give Afridi time to think over any decisions and confer with other players. He would also be able to get the input of the coaching staff during drinks breaks, at the end of sessions and at the close of play.
Apart from Afridi, who else is there as possible Test captain? The only other likely candidate, Younis Khan, is still serving his indefinite ban and is waiting on his appeal to be heard. This hearing will definitely not come in time for for him to be considered for the ODI captaincy as his appeal has been adjourned until the 29th of this month with the Asia Cup captain to be named on the 25th. Chances are that the Asia cup captain will probably be Afridi, and this, along with Younis’ ban and Afridi’s desire to return to the Test side, may have made the decision to keep him as Test captain merely a formality. With Afridi’s request in the media of a quick resolution to the damaging allegations surrounding the Pakistan team, he is beginning to sound the part of captain at least.
As a player, I think his return to the Test scene will give us a much more potent and balanced side. The argument is that his batting is not up to Test standard but I have argued in the past that he could make our Test side on his abilities with the ball alone. Also, those critics will probably be surprised to learn that his Test average is a more than respectable 37.40, with 5 centuries in 46 innings. In the recent past we have struggled for the breakthrough and his attacking variety of spin would be perfect for such a situation. We have also had problems getting past 300 runs as a team and the option of Afridi’s spin could then give us the option of dropping Saeed Ajmal/Danish Kaneria for an extra batsmen.
I think he will make the Test side on merit, and be given the captaincy because there simply is no other choice. Nevertheless, with the likes of Shoaib Malik out of the way, he has a chance to develop into a good Test captain with a young team and two new coaches that are right behind him.
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May 23rd, 2010 at 5:50 pm
it is a shame that we seem to be left with a choice of least worst options
To my mind whilst afridi’s utility attributes and aggression are attractive qualities in a captain, the world T20 seemed to show him as not living up to the billing and the captaincy seemed to detract from his batting and fielding
I would have him in the test team as a player but his ball biting, feuding and lack of captaincy ability rule him out as captain in my opinion
May 23rd, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Zahid
You are correct that the captaincy seemed to weigh him down and affected his batting and bowling. To my mind, this may just be a mental issue and may be easily overcome. He did begin to pick up his personal performances nearer the end of our participation in the tournament and his body language was generally more positive as if he had decided to embrace the captaincy. In the beginning, he was clearly feeling the pressure of the role.
Who would you choose as Test captain Zahid?
May 23rd, 2010 at 10:47 pm
I think Afridi is the right choice given that we have extremely limited choices. Like you say, just on merit he should be on the team and not many so called all rounders have a batting average like his in test cricket.
May 24th, 2010 at 2:26 am
Stani
His test centuries were scored a long time ago he hasn’t played in the longer format neither in the domestic cricket nor in international . His bowling is not good enough for test matches.
But I do understand your point that from the stability point of view he is the only choice, having two different captains will again cause friction in the team.
No need to keep Razzaq as a full time batsman will be more useful.
PCB should make Mohammad Irfan ready for the Englsih tour and should also keep Shoaib Akhtar as a back up.
If the selection is done keeping in view the English conditions and it is strictly done based on longer format and not on the recent T20 performances Pakistan despite the loss of Yousaf, Younis and Malik will do fine, in fact they can’t do much worse than what they did when these players were in the team, the focus should be on the youngsters.
Players like Asim Kamal, Hassan Raza, Misbah, Lateef and a few others they are spent forces and should be kept away from the team.
May 25th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Over and out
Yes, I must admit, his average even surprised me though I do think it will be his bowling that will make the most impact. They have just announced he will be ODI captain so they may well keep him as Test captain also even though they have included Younis and Malik in the ODI squad pending their appeals.
Wasim
I think his bowling has improved since his last Test outing. Even though they seem to be hinting at bringing Younis back (Ijaz Butt in particular), I still think they should go with one captain for all formats.
I think Irfan should be brought over here to England. The conditions will suit him and he needs to be played so we can have a look. Our old friend Shoaib Akhtar is back and he seems to have kept a low profile which is encouraging.
I still think we have a big whole in our batting though.
May 26th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Stani
The whole batting is a big hole:))
Irfan is over rated has too many weaknesses needs a lot of time to adjust at international level.
He has no movement has only one wicket taking delivery and that is the awkward bouncer. But I would still want him to be on the tour so that he can learn and may be he can be tried on a pitch which suits him.
Akhtar won’t be playing the test matches, he lacks the stamina, he can still be effective in the shorter version.
I agree with you there should be only one captain for all formats. And yes Afridi’s bowling has improved for the shorter version but in test matches he will not be effective as he doesn’t have the variations for that format.
English wickets always help the spinners so he might be successful but I still want Rahman or Babar in the team.