Re: Who should be our captain?
I vote for afrid. I dotn think he will contribute much with the bat but he has leadership qualities and as Ian chappel said, he said he would include Afridi in any and all forms of cricket because he brings a lot to the table - spin bowling, explosive batting and energetic fielding and above all his motivational presence in the field.
Afridi doesn't have a brain. he singlehandedly embodies all that is wrong with Pak cricket - no brain, no temperament, no professionalism despite a decade of playing at the top level, a sense of self-entitlement, nonstop verbal diarrhea in the media, a seniority complex, etc. I would rather that Pakistan stop playing cricket completely than see this full-time idiot become the full-time Pak captain.
the main problem I think is not who will be captain. the real issue is whether he will backed by the board and management. you can make anyone captain but if they're going to appointed on a series by series basis and sacked after losing one match badly, then not even Imran Khan will succeed in this setup. the second issue is that every successful Pak captain was successful when he had a young team. oldies/"seniors" always create problems for every captain - regardless of which captain you go back to. they made things difficult for Malik. Younis created a lot of his own problems but the seniors issue was there as well. apart from these two, there are no other real candidates.
so, imo, for now Yousuf should continue. eventually, when the seniors are purged and if Malik regains his form, then he would be my choice.
ps. sorry, Ehsan bhai, didn't mean to be rude. hope it didn't come out that. it's just that when it comes to Chacha Afraidi, I get a little emotional. :D
the main problem I think is not who will be captain. the real issue is whether he will backed by the board and management. you can make anyone captain but if they're going to appointed on a series by series basis and sacked after losing one match badly, then not even Imran Khan will succeed in this setup. the second issue is that every successful Pak captain was successful when he had a young team. oldies/"seniors" always create problems for every captain - regardless of which captain you go back to. they made things difficult for Malik. Younis created a lot of his own problems but the seniors issue was there as well. apart from these two, there are no other real candidates.
Younis Khan was given captaincy till 2011 it was himself who resigned after one bad series. Yousuf has backing of the board (to an extent) but unfortunately it is Yousuf who STILL insist to keep a slacker like Kamran Akmal and I believe it was him to ask for Sami as reinforcement and send Fawad back etc. Yousuf wants to stick with Malik who is the politician in the team. When we have such elements in the team how do we expect to win?
so, imo, for now Yousuf should continue. eventually, when the seniors are purged and if Malik regains his form, then he would be my choice.
ps. sorry, Ehsan bhai, didn't mean to be rude. hope it didn't come out that. it's just that when it comes to Chacha Afraidi, I get a little emotional. :D
There is NO WAY that all seniors would be purged at some point in time making Malik an automatic choice. Afridi is here to stay, by that time Salman Butt would be thinking of being senior, Kamran would be fantasizing of being captain, Asif would be thinking same.... so this 'seniority' issue is not going to be over anytime soon.
Younis Khan was given captaincy till 2011 it was himself who resigned after one bad series. Yousuf has backing of the board (to an extent) but unfortunately it is Yousuf who STILL insist to keep a slacker like Kamran Akmal and I believe it was him to ask for Sami as reinforcement and send Fawad back etc. Yousuf wants to stick with Malik who is the politician in the team. When we have such elements in the team how do we expect to win?
firstly, Younis was only given a longer tenure when he demanded it. and even then, it took Ijaz Butt an age to say yes.
secondly, lets get real. when Malik was captain, Butt said that Malik would be given a longer run. the very next match after Butt's statement, Malik was sacked. captains in the past have been told they will captain for a year or two only to be sacked after the very next series.
so, when I say that the board needs to make a long term appointment and back the captain, I mean really back him sincerely - not pay lip service.
as far as Sami is concerned, as much as I am/was opposed to Sami, you've got to give the captain the players he wants. if Yousuf wants Sami, he should get Sami. if Yousuf wants Younis, he should get Younis.
and as far as Malik is concerned, I don't how the learned Pakistani fans came to this conclusion. if there is a politician in the team, it is Afridi. the man has been playing games for a long time. want proof. watch Afridi's interviews after 2007 world cup. watch how he "backed" his captain. if I were the captain, I'd demand that he be dropped right there and then if he won't unconditionally back the captain of the team. watch Wasim's comments when Afridi was made the T20 captain on how desperately he had been fighting for the captaincy. Wasim didn't say it once. he said it twice... sarcastically.
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Afridi is here to stay
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the idiot is already in his mid thirties. so, he's going to be playing well into his forties I take it?
and I must say that I don't understand why a year or 2 years is considered a long time for a captaincy tenure in Pakistan. captains for other countries captain for many, many years (not 1-2 years).
under Fleming, NZ didn't seem to be going anywhere for long stretches and were outclassed many, many times in those years. but they didn't fire Fleming. under Smith, South Africa has had some brilliant moments but there have been really bad ones as well - the ones traditionally associated with South Africa's darkest days. but they didn't sack Smith. what can be worse than the way they were knocked out of the 2007 world cup in the semi-final. their worst nightmares came alive again. but the Saffie board didn't panic.
we must learn patience. Yousuf might have a million problems. but firing him just because of this defeat would be retarded. firing any captain for one defeat is retarded. if you fire someone, you better have a plan, a replacement and good reasoning. you can't fire anyone because of a couple of bad match or two. in fact, not even a bad series or two is a good reason to sack a captain.
it takes a long time to make an international class player. you have to invest a lot of time and effort in making a good international player. Yousuf looked a class batsman from the time he debuted but it took him 8-9 years before he started breaking all kinds of records. Younis looked bad for so long but then we all saw what a show he put on starting in 2005, etc. you have to invest in players. and the captain is the most pivotal, the most important player. you have to invest even more time/effort in him.
as far as Sami is concerned, as much as I am/was opposed to Sami, you've got to give the captain the players he wants. if Yousuf wants Sami, he should get Sami. if Yousuf wants Younis, he should get Younis.
Its good to provide the player a captain asks but then they should also be consistent with their policy like if a player is being recalled then he better have recent results to back that recall. Sami DID NOT earn that recall. Younis was requested but Younis had to earn the recall. That is something they need to fix... to be consistent.
and as far as Malik is concerned, I don't how the learned Pakistani fans came to this conclusion. if there is a politician in the team, it is Afridi. the man has been playing games for a long time. want proof. watch Afridi's interviews after 2007 world cup. watch how he "backed" his captain. if I were the captain, I'd demand that he be dropped right there and then if he won't unconditionally back the captain of the team. watch Wasim's comments when Afridi was made the T20 captain on how desperately he had been fighting for the captaincy. Wasim didn't say it once. he said it twice... sarcastically.
You don't know how they reached this conclusion? Then you are not in touch with what happens with(in) the team. There is not just one report about Malik playing politics but over a long period of time and different sources.
the idiot is already in his mid thirties. so, he's going to be playing well into his forties I take it?
Unfortunately, on paper, there is only 2 years difference between two idiots (Malik and Afridi) :D
Its good to provide the player a captain asks but then they should also be consistent with their policy like if a player is being recalled then he better have recent results to back that recall. Sami DID NOT earn that recall. Younis was requested but Younis had to earn the recall. That is something they need to fix... to be consistent.
yes but that isn't Yousuf's problem. that is PCB's irregular standards.
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You don't know how they reached this conclusion? Then you are not in touch with what happens with(in) the team. There is not just one report about Malik playing politics but over a long period of time and different sources.
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oh please. I know where all this Malik is a politician nonsense is coming from. it comes from Afridi fanboys. but I suppose the fanboys can't be blamed since most of them aren't even old enough to have seen real stars like Wasim, Waqar, Saeed, Saqlain, etc. so, for them Afridi is their whole universe. either that, or they're gay and their parents need to be really worried.
apart from Afridi's legions of teenage fans, I've only heard Qadir say that Malik was a "politician". imo, Qadir is an unreliable idiot and only slightly better than Safraz Khota-Nawaz. the man changes colors as the weather changes. Qadir is the man in whose tenure Rauf was selected. when he left the selector's seat, he called Rauf a parchi. so, whose parchi was it Qadir mian and why did YOU get influenced by the parchi when YOU selected him?
at this point, my major concern as a Pakistani is not Pak cricket - it is more the next generation of Pak males because seems like most of them are well on their way to turning out as major queens/fruitloops.
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Unfortunately, on paper, there is only 2 years difference between two idiots (Malik and Afridi) :D
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yeah, except Malik admitted he's a year older than his official age. and Afridi is AT LEAST 33-34 years old though of course, the maulana sahib has never come clean about that.
Screw the captain. First fix the PCB structure. The chairman should not be appointed by politicians. This should be a qualified position.
Put some educated, cricket minded, honest and ethical people in there (hard to find those in a corrupt and pathetic country like Pakistan).
You know what, just forgetaboutit. Come to the realization that Pakistan is a third class country in every department, be it sports, politics, research, science, ethics.
Lower your expectations.
We have lived in a facade for too long now. We are not the nation we are told in our textbooks.
is it that time of the month or something?
this is the country of Aitzaz Ahsan, Hammad Raza, Tariq Mehmood, Sherry Rehman, Asma Jahangir, Tahira Abdullah, Raza Rabbani, Edhi sahib, Nusrat Javed, Talat Hussain, Imran Khan, etc. I've never been more proud of my country than I am now. yes, we're facing serious problems as a nation but I've also never been more hopeful either.
if we've been cursed with a Malik Qayyum, then we are also blessed with Aitzaz Ahsan. if we've been cursed with Najam Sethi, then we've also been blessed with Nusrat Javed. if we've been cursed with Nazir Naji, then we've also been blessed with Talat Hussain. if we've been cursed with Sarfraz Khotanawaz, then we've also been blessed with the great Imran Khan. if we've been cursed with Abdul Qadir, then, we've also been blessed with Asif Iqbal. if we were cursed with Tauqeer Zia, then, we were also blessed with Shehryar Khan.
Pakistan has lots of wonderful, ethical, honest, competent people. in fact the vast majority is ethical and honest. what we've got to stop doing is praying for a savior. stop looking for the silver bullet. some prophet is not going to walk in and fix Pak cricket all by himself (yes, not even Imran Khan). we've got to implement systems which will go on regardless of whether we get a professional, sagacious, wise chief like Shehyrar Khan or an absolute moron like Tauqeer Zia. problem is systems take time and don't show results right away. and Pakistani fans have all the patience and attention span of goldfish.
Re: Who should be our captain?
Younis should be the captain, unfortunately he has too many enemies.
If there is a guy who can take a third rated team to a T20 World Cup win and semi-final of CT than he deserves to be the captain for a long time and should be allowed to run the team his way.
if not younis..then retain Yousuf. everyone in the team respects moulana yousuf. Last thing we need is more rifts among players. I seriously don't see anybody else leading the team. I heard ppl calling for Kaneria as a captain well if that is the case then let me throw in Muhammed Sami's name as well.. :p
yes but that isn't Yousuf's problem. that is PCB's irregular standards.
That is Yousuf's problem in part, he shouldn't ask them for a specific player, he should request for best available replacement, otherwise it falls under nepotism.
oh please. I know where all this Malik is a politician nonsense is coming from. it comes from Afridi fanboys. but I suppose the fanboys can't be blamed since most of them aren't even old enough to have seen real stars like Wasim, Waqar, Saeed, Saqlain, etc. so, for them Afridi is their whole universe. either that, or they're gay and their parents need to be really worried.
I didn't know you have the magic wand of knowing everything about how people who appreciate Afridi are gay or Malik being politician comes only from Afridi fanboys.
apart from Afridi's legions of teenage fans, I've only heard Qadir say that Malik was a "politician". imo, Qadir is an unreliable idiot and only slightly better than Safraz Khota-Nawaz. the man changes colors as the weather changes. Qadir is the man in whose tenure Rauf was selected. when he left the selector's seat, he called Rauf a parchi. so, whose parchi was it Qadir mian and why did YOU get influenced by the parchi when YOU selected him?
at this point, my major concern as a Pakistani is not Pak cricket - it is more the next generation of Pak males because seems like most of them are well on their way to turning out as major queens/fruitloops.
Malik holds the record in being the only player who threw away a match (officially) in domestic competition.
That is Yousuf's problem in part, he shouldn't ask them for a specific player, he should request for best available replacement, otherwise it falls under nepotism.
I think Yousuf would know who the best replacement would be better than Ijaz Butt.
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I didn't know you have the magic wand of knowing everything about how people who appreciate Afridi are gay or Malik being politician comes only from Afridi fanboys.
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the real magicians, imo, are the folks who first came up with this rumor that Malik was creating problems in the team.. and then repeated it enough times until they themselves started believing the rumors they themselves had spread. that's what you call self-confidence.
the only time I've read/heard about Malik being a troublemaker is from Qadir's biyanaat. and imo, Qadir has got all the credibility of a chameleon. he's only slightly better than Safraz Khotanawaz...
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Malik holds the record in being the only player who threw away a match (officially) in domestic competition.
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yeah, and Afridi holds the record for throwing away the highest number of matches in the history of international cricket with his criminally irresponsible batting, complete lack of application and zero professionalism despite over a decade's worth of experience at the top level of cricket.
75% of Afridi's career at the top level has been undeserved. had we given the chances that we gave to this chichora to M. Wasim or Yasir Hameed or Rauf, we might have created a very good player who could have helped the team win on a consistent basis.
btw, Malik "threw" that match because he felt that his team had been robbed of a legitimate place in the next stage of the tournament. that means he cared that much about winning and was that angry. wish the same could be said of Afridi... whose first impulse whenever there is an indication that application might be required to win a match is to play a retarded shot, get out and run and hide in the dressing room... so, please spare me the lectures about how evil Malik is and how great Afridi is. you're not the only armchair expert here.
Re: Who should be our captain?
Until and unless the management changes for the better and supports the captain in his decisions - and player politics and immature and/or haughty attitudes are nipped in the bud by the management, no captain can lead this team.
The problem with the current team is that everyone in the team brings some baggage in the form of seniority complex or a political agenda. Until the top management gets some balls to tell these players that they aren't bigger than the team and aren't all that indispensable, nothing's going to change. Unfortunately, in the current context, Younis, by far, was the only obvious semi-decent choice for a captain, and he suffered not due to lack of commitment of players, but because players knew that they have the bargaining power to oust a captain, and management can't touch them.
The current setup is such that the captain needs to mostly just do jee-huzoori to keep the management happy, and is not independent enough to make bold decisions. In this setup, Yousuf is perhaps going to do well - for himself of course, not for the team or the nation.
Problem is that Pak cricket fans are as fickle as the administrators. We make heroes out of these losers so fast.
PCB and even the local cricket associations are full of corrupt and inefficient people who are there by influence rather than actual ability or professional competence...therefore our cricket decisions are always haphazard and rarely make sense...because they are made by jahils rather than qualified people.
People keep saying...bring a PCB constitution blah blah...that wont make any difference either because the same guys are sitting in the local associations who have been there for ages and those same people will come into the PCB governing council...
What needs to be done is a total overhaul of the PCB and local cricket system...from the bottom to the top....
Otherwise, you can make everyone and their grandfather the Captain (and judging by our history since Imran Khan, we have probably already made everyone we could the captain at least once)....and nothing will change - a few good results against the Bengalis, Lankans, the occasional win against the Indians and the Kiwis.....and consistently getting thrashed by the Aussies and South Africans.......thats going to continue to be our legacy unless we sort things out from the bottom up.
And Younis Khan isent an angel either nor is he the answer to our problems...we have bigger issues...
I think Yousuf would know who the best replacement would be better than Ijaz Butt.
I would like to agree with you, so why did he not get other players he asked for? Why do we have a policy of 'perform in domestic to earn place in national team' if the captain is going to make the call for any player?
I am not saying Ijaz Butt knows anything better than his own arse.
the real magicians, imo, are the folks who first came up with this rumor that Malik was creating problems in the team.. and then repeated it enough times until they themselves started believing the rumors they themselves had spread. that's what you call self-confidence.
the only time I've read/heard about Malik being a troublemaker is from Qadir's biyanaat. and imo, Qadir has got all the credibility of a chameleon. he's only slightly better than Safraz Khotanawaz...
Malik's being troublesome 'announcement' from Qadir came very late, and people who already suspected that earlier only took that as 'confirmation'.
yeah, and Afridi holds the record for throwing away the highest number of matches in the history of international cricket with his criminally irresponsible batting, complete lack of application and zero professionalism despite over a decade's worth of experience at the top level of cricket.
75% of Afridi's career at the top level has been undeserved. had we given the chances that we gave to this chichora to M. Wasim or Yasir Hameed or Rauf, we might have created a very good player who could have helped the team win on a consistent basis.
First let me be clear, I am no Afridi fanboy, you can read my views from early posts. Its only recently that I started thinking that perhaps he could turn things around in the team as everyone else has proved to be a jackass. We have seen Younis, Yousuf, Malik as captains but I don't see much difference in their styles. I used to strongly support Malik esp during Woolmer days as back then Malik was really a promising player only to do $hit later on.
As for 'consistency', even during Inzamam, Wasim or Waqar or Miandad our teams didn't show 'consistency', so how would have likes of M Wasim, Yasir Hameed or Rauf helped in 'consistency'? BTW I prefer Yasir Hameed over Imran Farhat, Faisal Iqbal or even Salman Butt.
BOG JOKE 
Re: Who should be our captain?
First change whole team and then decide to make one captain ..... don't experiment to make too much captain ....
Apart from his fitness, what is wrong about choosing Kaneria as captain, if a new captain is to be appointed?
Apart from his fitness, what is wrong about choosing Kaneria as captain, if a new captain is to be appointed?
he never lead his town team so how can he be a captain ????????