was it a good decision for Afridi to give up test captaincy? Allowed the team to unify under a young captain at a time when he was the only representative left of the ‘old guard’. No Ys, a severely undermined Shoaib Malik. Make Butt captain and emphasise youth.
How do you guys see the power residing in the Pakistan camps now? Do you figure Salman Butt and Afridi will get along as equal stature captains, or will there be politics now between them? I think ideally Salman Butt should be the Micheal Clarke to Ponting for Afridi when tours start, even though Butt is the test Captain. just given our culture.
On another note, what did you think of Butt’s captaincy? Quite a few things to learn as far as field placings go.
i thought so too, and even when it happened it seemed like the right, honest move. people criticised it for being dramatic but its always going to be dramatic when a captain gives up after 1 test.
Afridi's decision was a masterstroke.. He was impressed with Salman and was also weary of the fact that his performances in test may affect his 'lead by example' credentials/hold in limited overs format. so why cling on to something just for the sake of it?
yep. the criticism I think was criticism for its own sake. what was refreshing was to see him repeatedly emphasise his limitations without downplaying the importance of test cricket.
And I honestly believe Afridi/Salman combo is an ideal one for pakistan to carry through the foreseeable future. Both are aggressive, fully command their places in respective teams and have ample potential to lead by example.
Salman as a captain did show aggression and intuition (giving bowl to Umar Amin). I did not watch most of the second aussie innings but people were saying that he did not plug gaps in slips as aggressively as he should have. So hopefully he will learn from that. Of course he must have panicked when Smith was slogging away but he did not put a sorry figure as yousuf did in sydney.
Indeed Salman has a lot to learn but it couldnt have come at a better time for him. Just beating Australia and followed by 4 tests against England.
England will be tough opponents but not as tough as Australians, plus, Kaneria may do a better job against English batsmen.
Azhar and Umar Amin will have a chance to consolidate and gain confidence as well.
He also has teh advantage of having a bowler as a coach, Waqar, who can give good advice on attacking field.
Dude, in crocheting terms, English team is way better than current Aussie team. It's just that aussie had that mental hold on us. In that aspect, English series will be easier but as a unit Rngland us better
Afridi's timing to withdraw from captaincy was awful. It may be honest but it was a selfish decision given the circumstances.
He was assigned the task for his leadership skills. From batting perspective, his replacement Shoaib Malik was as useless as him. Nothing was gained.
The team and the nation could have done without the drama for one more test.
Salman's captaincy has a long way to go. That showed in his second innings batting and field placing. He has the talent and the brains to overcome his shortcomings whereas Afridi couldn't even get over his temprament issue.
For this reason i am always for one captain, doesn't matter what format, we need only one captain and one vice captain, the mess our team got into was because too many captains were playing in the team,
Now for instance, if Pakistan do bad in test matches and perform well in shorter format against England, then Afridi would be all over the place and Salman, despite his performance and all other things would be looked down at and vice-verse...
So the best choice was to have one captain, in this situation it is very likely that we see another HL'F being taken by some players or if some players decides to put their weight in one captain's basket... then it would be difficult to solve the issue of under-performance...
Indeed Salman has a lot to learn but it couldnt have come at a better time for him. Just beating Australia and followed by 4 tests against England.
England will be tough opponents but not as tough as Australians, plus, Kaneria may do a better job against English batsmen.
Azhar and Umar Amin will have a chance to consolidate and gain confidence as well.
He also has teh advantage of having a bowler as a coach, Waqar, who can give good advice on attacking field.
The current English team is better than Australia in tests. Anderson, Broad and Finn (he is 6 ft 7 in tall) will test us for sure in swing and seam conditions and Swann is a better spinner than either Smith or North
I think England have a better bowling line up than the Aussies as well....so Pakistan will certainly need to improve their batting.
As for Captaincy, Salman's first game was good in my book...sure we won which is even better...but even otherwise he did try something different...making Umar Amin bowl which got 2 crucial wickets, rotating Amir and Asif and Gul's bowling spells intelligently.
His field placings will get better with time as well....especially as he gets more confidence in the role. Its also good to hear a Pakistan Captain who can speak confidently and clearly and this will help with the team as well because Salman comes across as a calm yet confident person...its good to see.
I would continue with Afridi as Captain for T20 and ODI cricket and Salman as VC -- only because Afridis performance has been good as a player in those formats while he has been the Captain as well so it would be unfair to remove him from the captaincy.
Salman's time to lead the ODI team will come..no rush.
Anyway for me, test cricket remains the top most category to prove your mettle....hopefully we can become a great test team again like we were in the 80s and 90s
