*Well it will be a hugh decision might disturb the whole equation of the team but hey it can’t get any worse infact it could turn out to be a positve one. Waqar has been expensive lately and his captaincy has been questioned time and again. He is an architect behind saleem’s elahi inclusion. He is the reason Saeed is out of the picture.
He is a good wicket taking bowler wth a beautiful rythm but I’m slowly losing confidence on him . I hope he proves me wrong.
So who will replace Waqar if they axe him out ? Sami or Zahid? both of em are inexperience. So I dun see Waqar getting booted.
Well if Wasim is the captain then its tata for RAshid latif and say hello to Moin khan! I dun mind that move. Rashid latif was clearly struglling against SA. That guy is more like a test player than an effective one day player.*
KARACHI: The Justice Malik Qayyum Judicial Commission at the time of its findings on the match-fixing allegations advised the PCB to avoid giving responsibility of captaining the national side to Wasim Akram.
But well-placed sources in the Board have disclosed to ‘The News’ that Chairman Lt General Tauqir Zia has still not given up the idea of appointing Wasim as captain for next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
The sources have confided that in the last week of October when the Board was finalising the one-day and Test squads for the Zimbabwe tour, Wasim was told by the chairman told he would be leading the one-day team till the World Cup.
“Tauqir held detailed discussions with Wasim on the one-day squad for the Zimbabwe tour before finalising it,” a source disclosed and added: “The probables for the World Cup were also discussed with him.”
“A decision was taken then that Wasim should be made captain of the one-day squad while Waqar Younis should continue to lead the Test side,” the source said. “But, apparently, something happened in a few hours time for the Board to finally decide to retain Waqar as captain of both the Test and one-day squads,” the source said.
Sources said that one reason was that Waqar after getting wind that Wasim was being announced as the one-day captain went and spoke again to the chairman and told him he should be given a chance to lead both sides in Zimbabwe and South Africa before judging his performance.
According to the sources, Waqar’s cause was helped by the fact that some of his senior team-mates called up coach Richard Pybus who was in South Africa and asked him to speak to the chairman.
“Since Tauqir pays a lot of heed to what Pybus has to say he listened when the coach told him that it would be best for the team if the same captain was retained for the Test and one-day squads.”
Sources say that Waqar’s future as captain and player in the one-day squad is still not secure and a lot depends on how he fares in both areas in the remaining matches of the one-day series against South Africa.
“Waqar had to be retained as the captain of the one-day squad in South Africa after the team won 5-0 against Zimbabwe,” the source pointed out. “But the fact is that the PCB chairman is still keen on having Wasim as the one-day captain for the World Cup and has even spoken to Justice Qayyum on this count and taken his opinion,” the source disclosed. “So if Waqar does not deliver the goods as captain and player against South Africa, he might well find himself out of the World Cup,” he said.
Wasim led Pakistan in the 1996 and 1999’ World Cups and Pakistan made the final last time in England eventually losing to Australia. As a captain Wasim’s enjoys a good track record as he has also led Pakistan to their first ever world series one-day title in Australia in 1997 and also to convincing Test wins over India, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, Zimbabwe, etc.
Sources privy to behind the scenes happenings in the Board say that Waqar’s position in the one-day team is also under scrutiny as the general feeling is that he is too expensive and is taking up the place of a more deserving bowler in the one-day squad. “The feeling is that Waqar is upsetting the balance of the one-day team.”
“It all now depends on if Waqar can lift his own performances and that of the team in the remaining four games in South Africa against the odds or else he might find himself out of the World Cup squad,” the source said.
Sources said that the PCB chairman and chief selector Wasim Bari were also not happy at the insistence of Waqar supported by Pybus to recall Saleem Elahi as a opener in the team. Saleem’s selection in the team has raised many eyebrows despite his high scoring in Zimbabwe.
In fact the PCB chief during a recent press conference in Karachi made it clear that while he had hopes from Taufiq Umar he had reservations about Saleem succeeding in South Africa due to many chinks in his armour.
He throws so many masalas io news !
, khair insha’allah!
exactly what i was saying. The team was briliant but huwa kiya? Did Wasim got and credit or did the boys got any credit? Instead of blamming PCB for not planning earlier we ended up blamming the same person who was responsible for that briliance, just cause we lost the final. Wasim deserved to be the captain of Pak but too bad we only made him captain when all our experiments failed.