Early days still, however one can't criticize a captain with a record such as Babar's. Fine don't praise him just yet, but criticism is quite unnecessary.

Sarfaraz Ahmed is gone.

His time as captain of Pakistan's national team across all three formats is over and for now his time as a player is over too!

While I was still trying to get my head around this decision, Pakistan's new and all powerful Chief Selector announced the Test and T20 teams for the tour to Australia, which left me even more perplexed.

My head is in a cross wire over all these changes and I am still trying to make sense of them.


CAPTAINCY CONFUSION

When the announcement came, the headline read "Sarfaraz Ahmed removed as Pakistan Captain from all 3 formats".

Azhar Ali was announced Test Captain, Babar Azam was announced T20 Captain, and a decision on the ODI captain was deferred till July 2020, which is when Pakistan plays its next ODI.

Within minutes, however, the article was updated:

So which one is it?

Has Sarfaraz been retained as ODI captain or has he been removed?

I still don't know.


WAS IT RIGHT TO REMOVE SARAFRAZ?

There is no easy answer.

Pakistan won the Champions Trophy under him two years ago.

They failed to qualify for the World Cup semifinals but only because of Net Run Rate. They ended the World Cup with 4 straight wins.

Pakistan have won their last 6 ODIs under Sarfraz.

Pakistan have been the number 1 ranked T20 team for two years under Sarfaraz. No Pakistan captain had a better record in T20s than him.

Considering all this, maybe he should have been retained.

But then you think about all those losses in ODIs against the top 8 teams. Besides the wins in CT2017, Pakistan barely registered any victory against the top 8 ODI teams under Sarfaraz.

You think about losing a first ever test series in the UAE, which had become Pakistan's fortress under Misbah Ul Haq.

You think about the clean sweep in the T20 series against a second string, albeit talented, Sri Lanka.

But even then was the captaincy strip warranted?

A closer look at Sarfaraz's captaincy record reveals this:

TESTS
13 matches | 4 wins | 8 losses | 1 draw
568 runs at 25.81 with 5 fifties

He looked out of depth as test captain.

His batting suffered.

While those numbers are not bad, they are not good enough for someone who wanted to bat in the top 6. For a number 7 WK they are also strictly okay. He was far better before he took on the captaincy and was averaging in the 40s.

ODIS
50 matches | 28 wins | 20 losses | 2 NR
804 runs at 32.2 and SR of 87.3 with 5 fifties

A W:L ratio of 1.4 is not bad.

However, a closer look at the wins shows that 17 out of 28 came against the top 8 ODI sides, out of which 8 wins were against Sri Lanka.

Out of the remaining 9 wins, 3 came on the trot leading to the Champions Trophy win.

Pakistan never looked like a world beating ODI team under Sarfaraz, except for that 1 week in 2017, however it wasn't all that bad either.

His own form too was alright. An average of 32 for a wicket keeper is fine in my opinion. He probably did not fit in the top 5 but at 6 or 7 he was fine.

He perhaps could have continued as ODI captain. Maybe he will. Who knows.

T20Is
37 matches | 29 Wins | 8 losses
521 runs at 27.4 and SR of 130.6

Someone who achieved these numbers did not deserve to be sacked.

Under Sarfraz, Pakistan won 11 consecutive T20 series, beating all teams in all sorts of conditions. They beat England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka, and even a World XI.

Pakistan rose to the top of the International T20 Rankings and remained the number 1 T20 team for two years.

They still are the number 1 T20 team, despite the 3-0 loss to Sri Lanka.

Pakistan have won only 1 out of their last 6 T20 internationals, however after a string of wins across 11 successful series, the selectors should have been a bit more considerate.

While remaining as ODI captain is debatable, Sarfaraz surely did not deserve to be sacked as a T20 captain. Even his batting record was fine in T20s.

Sarfaraz was one of the most successful captains in the history of T20 cricket. The least the PCB could have done was give him a chance to lead the team in a World T20.




In my view, it was right to remove Sarfaraz as test captain and replace him with Azhar Ali. In fact, Azhar Ali should have always been test captain. It is quite unfortunate that Azhar was made ODI captain and did not get the test captaincy, after Misbah's retirement, because of his failure as an ODI captain.

Removing Sarfaraz as T20 captain is completely unjust. Sure Pakistan lost 3-0 to Sri Lanka but take a look at the 3 years before that. Does that count for nothing?

I wish Babar Azam all the success in the world - as a batsman and as Pakistan's T20 captain. But his time could have come later. Pakistan need his batting right now more than his captaincy.

Sarfaraz should have been the one to lead Pakistan in next year's World T20.

Will Sarfaraz Ahmed remain captain of Pakistan or not?

Sarfaraz has left the decision in the hands of the PCB, and the board has some time on its hands to make this decision considering Pakistan's next series is not till October.

There is divided opinion among cricket experts and fans regarding the future of Sarfaraz' future as Pakistan captain.

I believe that PCB should let him continue for the next 15 months at the least, till the World T20 in October 2020.

My foremost reason for this decision is that over the next 15 months, Pakistan's focus is going to shift from ODIs to T20Is in preparation for the World T20. Given Pakistan's current number one ranking in T20Is, which has been achieved under Sarfaraz, there is no reason to change the captain.


And we all know that for the sake of harmony and unity in the team, Pakistan is best served by one captain across all formats.

Here's a look at the cricket that Pakistan will play over 12 months starting October 2019.

October - November 2019
vs Sri Lanka at home (UAE)
2 Tests, 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is

November - December 2019
vs Australia in Australia
2 Tests, 3 T20Is

January - February 2020
vs Bangladesh at home (UAE)
2 Tests, 3 T20Is

August 2020
vs Netherlands in Netherlands
3 ODIs

August - September 2020
vs England in England
3 Tests, 3 T20Is

September 2020
vs Ireland in Ireland
2 T20Is

September 2020
Asia Cup T20 in UAE
T20Is vs Ind, SL, BAN, AFG, UAE

October 2020
vs South Africa in South Africa
3 ODIs, 3 T20Is

October 2020
World T20 in Australia

That is a total of 9 Test Matches, 9 ODIs, and as many as 20-22 T20Is!

With the focus shifting from ODIs to T20Is, Pakistan can take a break from trying to figure out its ODI team and focus on the next big challenge ahead - The ICC World T20.

Under Sarfaraz Ahmed in T20Is, Pakistan have been on a record breaking winning streak.

There is no need to change the captain or the team in that format.

Pakistan can even think about giving Sarfaraz a break from some ODIs, for example the ones against Netherlands before the England tour, and give someone like Imad Wasim some more experience of captaining the ODI team.

But there is absolutely no need to change the captain right now.

Not till the World T20 at least.

A series victory typically covers up a team's weaknesses as the focus then lies on how the series was won, which players performed exceptionally, and generally how good the leadership and management was.

No PCB press conference is ever held without some heads turning and shouting WTF!

It all started well with Misbah stepping down from the T20 captaincy, and Zaka Ashraf announcing Mohammad Hafeez as the new captain of Pakistan's T20 team.

Well played by the PCB and Misbah in ensuring that it happened the right way with Misbah "stepping down" and not being pushed out.

I won't deny that I was rooting for Afridi to take over the captaincy once again but I guess the selectors wanted to look ahead at the future. With Hafeez taking over the T20 captaincy, he is also being set up for taking over the leadership in all 3 formats of the game once Misbah moves on. Which will definitely happen in the next year or two at most.

It is up to Hafeez now to demonstrate his leadership potential, which all of us have heard of, and make that role of captain in all three formats his very own going forward.

Till now, all was well and good. But then came the announcements of the three squads.

There were stories going around that the PCB, selectors, and coaching staff were contemplating going for three different teams. And go for different they did.

The only common theme in all three squads is that each squad comprises of 16 players, and only 4 players are present in all 3 squads: Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, and MOHAMMAD SAMI !!!

Great that he's made a comeback, but man how does one pacer go from being out of favour for so long to being in favour for all 3 formats. Something that only 3 regular international players have managed.

The selectors made a number of changes with some new faces being introduced, several players earning a comeback, and a few being dropped. Its a bit of a khichdi really, a total hotch potch.

I don't mean to undermine the PCB selectors. I'm sure it was hard work, and I'm sure that long hours were spent discussing the composition of the T20, ODI, and Test squads. But I really don't remember the last time when so many players made a comeback to the team at the same time!

T20 SQUAD
Retained: Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Malik, Hammad Azam
Dropped: Misbah Ul Haq, Awais Zia, Wahab Riaz, Asad Shafiq, Abdur Rehman, Aizaz Cheema, Adnan Akmal, Imran Farhat, Junaid Khan
Comebacks: Khalid Latif, Ahmed Shehzad, Yasir Arafat, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Sami, Nasir Jamshed
New Faces: Shakeel Ansar, Raza Hasan, Haris Sohail

This is what is called a major overhaul!

As many as 9 players have been dropped from the T20 squad that took on England. Not only is there a new captain, there are 3 new faces, and as many as 6 players making a comeback to Pakistan's T20 team.

Shoaib Malik's retention upsets me considering how he has continuously failed at the international level. But to be fair, he did seem to come back to form near the end of the T20 series against England, and he performed reasonably well in the Faysal Bank Super Eight T-20 Cup (FB T20) while leading his Sialkot Stallions to the title.

Out of the 9 players who have been dropped, Awais Zia and Asad Shafiq are questionable. He didn't set the stage on fire in his debut series against England, however he did seem to have good potential. It really doesn't make sense to drop someone after just 1 series.

Besides Khalif Latif, who was the leading run scorer in the FB T20, the other comebacks do not really make sense to me.

I am a big supporter of Ahmed Shehzad and I think he is a future Pakistan opener, however unless the Bangladesh Premier League was part of the selection criteria, there is no basis for Shehzad's return. Other batsmen, namely Imran Nazir, Asad Shafiq, and Shahzaib Hasan scored more runs in the FB T20. Moreover, Imran Nazir and Shahzaib had decent outings in the BPL as well.

Yasir Arafat, Sohail Tanvir, and Mohammad Sami have done nothing of note in domestic T20 competitions to warrant a comeback into the team. Sami was outstanding in the BPL, Tanvir was a star in the South African T20 competition, and Arafat has been a consistent performer in the English county scene; but if foreign competitions are criteria for selection then the selectors need to make that clear.

Despite the comebacks being questionable, the three new faces in the T20 team are all well deserved. Haris Sohail and Shakeel Ansar, both from the Sialkot Stallions were among the top 5 run scorers in the FB T20.

Shakeel has been picked as the wicket keeper, and his century, which was the only one in the FB T20, showed that he can bat. Even though his first class and List A record does not leave much to be desired, his T20 record is impressive. But he is 33 years old so the selectors aren't exactly looking at a future prospect here.

Haris Sohail performed consistently for the Stallions in the FB T20, and has been a solid performer at the domestic level for the last 5 years. He has an exemplary first class record averaging close to 47, while his T20 record, with an average over a 100 is phenomenal. At 23, he is definitely one for the future.

Raza Hasan has been on the fringes of national selection for quite some time now, and the 19 year old left arm spinner is also considered as the long term first choice spinner for Pakistan's ODI and test squads. He has displaced Abdur Rehman in the T20 team and with time he will get promoted to the other formats as well if he puts up impressive performances in international cricket. His call to the national team could not have been better timed with him finishing at the top of the wicket taking tally in the FB T20.

The PCB selectors have picked a young T20 team, obviously keeping the World T20 in mind, however it is largely inexperienced as well.

It will be interesting to see the combination they go in with considering the team has as many as 5 openers in Hafeez, Jamshed, Shehzad, Latif, and Shakeel.

My XI: 1. Ahmed Shehzad 2. Shakeel Ansar 3. Mohammad Hafeez 4. Umar Akmal 5. Haris Sohail 6. Hammad Azam 7. Shahid Afridi 8. Umar Gul 9. Mohammad Sami 10. Saeed Ajmal 11. Raza Hasan

ODI SQUAD
Retained: Misbah-ul Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Asad Shafiq, Aizaz Cheema, Azhar Ali
Dropped: Hammad Azam, Wahab Riaz
Comebacks: Imran Farhat, Mohammad Sami 
New Faces: Rahat Ali

By in large, Pakistan's ODI squad is what it was in the Asia Cup and the series against England prior to that, with just a few changes, which really do not make much sense.

Wahab Riaz has hardly been played by Pakistan in recent times, but he's always been considered as good potential, but suddenly he finds himself out of favour. The person replacing him is Mohammad Sami, who once again did not do much in last season's List A cricket in the domestic scene.

Imran Farhat's inclusion and Hammad Azam's exclusion is completely nonsensical! Farhat was dropped for the Asia Cup on the back of repeated poor performances and yet he comes back for the series against Sri Lanka. On what basis!?

And poor Hammad Azam. Every chance that he has got, he has shown his potential. With Pakistan missing genuine allrounders, Hammad is one player who can be groomed to fill in the gap left open by Abdul Razzaq, and which would be left even more widely open in a few years once Afridi hangs up his boots.

Yet the selectors have gone with an ODI squad without him.

Rahat Ali must have impressed Dave Whatmore and the selectors during the fast bowlers camp that was recently held. He also had an impressive first class season picking up 61 wickets at an average of 19 finishing the season as one of the leading wicket takers.

But that was first class cricket, which should get him place in the test team, not List A cricket!

My XI: 1. Mohammad Hafeez 2. Nasir Jamshed 3. Younis Khan 4. Umar Akmal 5. Misbah Ul Haq 6. Shahid Afridi 7. Sarfraz Ahmed 8. Umar Gul 9. Mohammad Sami 10. Saeed Ajmal 11. Aizaz Cheema


TEST SQUAD
Retained: Misbah-ul Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema
Dropped: Umar Akmal, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Talha, Wahab Riaz
Comebacks: Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Sami 
New Faces: Afaq Raheem, Ayub Dogar

With the way Pakistan's test team has performed over the past 18 months, there really was no need for any changes to the test squad, yet the selectors thought otherwise.

But why drop Umar Akmal, who is the future of Pakistan's batting? Sure he has not been part of the starting XI in tests with Asad Shafiq being preferred over him, but Umar's presence in the squad as the reserve batsman is imperative to his development as a player.

Faisal Iqbal makes a comeback based on his recent impressive domestic performance, which was one of his most successful seasons with 1013 runs at an average of 53.3. Faisal's 5 centuries during the past season were second only to Usman Salahuddin's 7, and the last time Faisal came into the Pakistan team on the back of so many centuries, he scored another one against India in Karachi.

However The likes of Fawad Alam (1062 runs ar 64.5), Haris Sohail (1184 runs at 49.33), and Yasir Hameed (1124 runs at 46.8) would be disappointed at being overlooked in favor of Faisal Iqbal.

But the man who would be most disappointed is Usman Salahuddin. With 1401 first class runs, he was the second highest run scorer in the past domestic season, and his average of 77.8 is a good 15 runs more than the next best average during the season. Moreover, no one scored as many first class hundreds as Usman did during the 2011-12 home season.

Yet he finds himself on the sidelines, while Afaq Raheem and Ayub Dogar make the squad for the first time ever.

Afaq Raheem was the the only one who scored more first class runs than Usman did during the past season, with 1420 runs at an average of 54.6, but he also played 6 more innings than Usman did. There is no doubt that Raheem deserves his places in the squad on the back of his domestic performance, but I believe even Usman does.

Considering that Usman is only 21, he should be considered as one for the future, especially over the likes of Ayub Dogar, who despite being the 3rd highest run scorer behing Raheem and Usman, is 32 and not really one that Pakistan can build their test future around.

This is the only format where I think Mohammad Sami deserves to make a comeback. His 56 first class wickets at an average of 16.6 not only resulted in one of his best ever domestic seasons, but also ensured that he was the best experience fast bowler on the domestic circuit during the past one year.

But he doesn't take international wickets! A bowling average of 50 is hardly one to be proud of, but I really hope that Sami can set his record right going forward. This will surely be his last chance.

My XI: 1. Mohammad Hafeez 2. Taufeeq Umar 3. Azhar Ali 4. Younis Khan 5. Misbah Ul Haq 6. Asad Shafiq 7. Adnan Akmal 8. Umar Gul 9. Mohammad Sami 10. Abdur Rehman 11. Saeed Ajmal

This 2009 has been some rollercoaster of a year! For me as well as for the Pakistan cricket team.

I'll save my personal ride for some other time; Pakistan's ride has been nothing short of dramatic.

Captaincy change, a first home test series in 17 months, an attack on a visiting cricket team, an ODI series against Australia for the first time in half a decade, return of the ICL rebels, a World Cup win, retirements, a first test tour in 17 months, sensational debuts, unexplainable collapses, and what not.

Pakistan cricket has gone through a lot.

During this time, we at Well Pitched have been around riding this roller coaster with them.

Today as I get ready to shift base from the UAE to the UK, I leave with the news that Shahid Afridi has been announced captain of Pakistan's Twenty20 team.

How awesome is that!

Since the day Well Pitched came online about 2 years ago, I have been writing about two key things that I want to see happen.

One was the permanent inclusion of Fawad Alam in the Pakistan XI in all forms of the game.

The second was the elevation of Shahid Afridi to the position of Pakistan captain.

2009 has seen both those wishes come true.

Couldn't have asked for more, could I?

What's best is that this is just the beginning for Fawad Alam and Shahid Afridi the captain!

Surely better and bigger things are yet to come!

Wasim Akram's unbeaten 257 against Zimbabwe in 1996 broke Saleem Malik's record of 237 against Australia, and stood as the record for over 12 years before Younis Khan went past it against Sri Lanka earlier this year.

Younis Khan had announced before the World Twenty20 that he would retire from T20 cricket after the tournament.

I thought that he would not have retired considering his performance in the World T20, but he stuck to his plans.

Younis was never considered a 20-20 batsman. He had a lot of critics who felt he was not suited to this format.

Pakistan's chief selector had even announced publicly that he would not have had Younis in Pakistan's T20 team if he had had his way.

Younis dished all that criticism out the window by scoring 172 runs at an average of 57.33 and a strike rate of 140 in the World T20.

He was Pakistan's leading run scorer, before Afridi and Akmal over took him in the final, and he ended the competition among the top 10 leading run scorers.

Shahid Afridi has got to be the leading candidate to take over the captaincy of Pakistan's T20 team, and if the PCB are not thinking along the same lines, then someone needs to punch some serious sense into them, and quickly!

Today, with an 82 ball 89 coupled with 3 crucial wickets, Malik baked some delicious humble pie for all these men. Not only did he lead from the front with bat and ball, but he also ensured that Pakistan go into the test series with confidence after a thumping win against the Indians. In my preview earlier today, I said that Pakistan's bowling looked thin without the 6th bowler and India would probably easily chase any total - I'm glad that it was skipper Malik who proved me wrong.

Today Malik took the field without the vice-captain Younis Khan, the motivator Shahid Afridi, and senior player Mohammad Yousuf (who conveniently rested after his 74). Yet he proved that he has it in him to lead from the front. The commentators went on about how the Pakistanis were fielding fresher legs and looked a better fielding unit - have these guys forgotten that Younis and Afridi are probably the best fielders of the side?

Pakistan played like a unit today and were marshalled extremely well by Malik. As I mentioned in my preview; give the boy some time, he will learn. Malik hasn't even been in the job for a year and people are gunning for his neck - ever heard of something called patience? You can't expect the boy to deliver results in a matter of days. Pakistan needs to learn how to persist.

The test matches start in 5 days and I'll cover my thoughts on them in the next few days. For now I hope everyone enjoys the humble pie baked by Shoaib Malik.

A Captain in grooming. That is what I think it should be.

Surely any cricket team's Vice Captain should be an automatic choice in the first XI, a shrewd thinker who can help the captain with on-field decisions, and someone who could take over as captain of the side in the future. In short, it can be said that a vice-captain is a 'captain under training', much like a prinicpal in the consulting world who is a 'partner under training'.

Just like a principal, who does not show the potential to be a partner, is conveniently asked to move on, a vice-captain who does not show the qualities of being a captain needs to be replaced.

Younis Khan, who spent 2 years under Inzamam as vice captain of the Pakistan team, refused to take over as captain once the big man resigned and retired. Younis had his reasons, and I respect him for those, but then why has the PCB gone back to him and named him as the vice captain of Pakistan?

I'm not doubting Younis Khan's abilities as a captain, nor am I questioning his position in the starting line up of Pakistan - he is a proven performer both as a captain and a player but the PCB knows as well as we do that he will never be captain of Pakistan. Firstly because of his own reluctance and secondly because his career would be over way before that of Shoaib Malik's for him to be able to take over the team (provided ofcourse that Malik remains successful and someone in the PCB does not hold an agenda against him).

Salman Butt was definitely the wrong choice as his own place in the team was doubtful, and Pakistan probably does not have other options besides Younis Khan to look at as far as the vice captaincy is concerned, but then that is a bigger worry in itself. If not him then who? You look around and there seems to be no one.

Maybe Shahid Afridi, but then he doesn't feature in the test plans of Pakistan, and I think its right that he doesn't. Maybe Pakistan can split the vice captaincy for ODIs and Tests with Afridi taking over for the ODIs and someone like Mohammad Asif for the Test matches. Asif was named vice captain after the world cup for the 3 match ODI series against Sri Lanka in May this year, but replaced by Salman Butt for no apparent reason. Why was he replaced? What were the PCB thinking when they appointed him and more importantly what changed their mind?

PCB works in mysterious ways and it worries me that there is no one in that set up that can identify a cricketer in Pakistan with some captaincy potential and stick to that decision.