Lawson All For Shoaib Malik As Captain After Afridi
Following http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482’s retirement from Test cricket after the embarrassing 150-run loss to Australia at Lord’s, there was a debate as to who would be the best choice to lead the young team further in the traditional format.
The Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision to appoint Afridi in the first place also came under criticism; it was argued that Afridi, who had not participated in Test cricket in four years, should never have been appointed to lead his team in Test cricket. There were rumors that Shoaib Malik was set to replace Afridi as captain, but the PCB announced Salman Butt as the new Captain.
Former Pakistan coach, George Lawson has spoken out, saying Shoaib Malik would have been a better Captain and that he should have been the “obvious choice”.
“Butt's a good choice as vice-captain but he's years away from being a captain,” Lawson told reporters, “I would've let him concentrate on his batting because he's probably the best batsman they have right now. He has captaincy potential but throwing him in at this stage will crucify him.” Lawson believes that Butt, who was Vice Captain under Afridi, is not the best choice because of his lack of experience. He went on to say how he thought that this opportunity could be damaging to Butt’s career if he failed to perform or live up to the expectations that came with the captaincy.
Lawson, who took over the coaching job after the sudden and unexpected death of former coach Bob Woolmer at the 2007 World Cup, took the team to the Twenty20 World Cup finals under Captain Shoaib Malik.
However, continuing poor form cut his two year contract short and he was relieved of his job after only a year and a half. The somewhat inexperienced Shoaib Malik was replaced by Younis Khan after the massive 234-run loss to Srilanka in a One Day International in 2009. “It might've been premature to name him captain then.
But three years on, he's certainly capable of being captain again. To me, he's the obvious choice. He's well respected by the younger players and the seniors that had problems with him aren't in the team.” Lawson said.
“In 2007, he was a reluctant captain. He was young and wanted to concentrate on his cricket. Now he's matured and given Pakistan's penchant for changing captains regularly, I'd say you should give it to him and move forward.
Malik did a good job as captain and at that time he was learning how to lead a side. He was taking the right steps in the right direction and if he's named as Afridi's successor, I don't think it'll be a step backwards by the Pakistan Cricket Board.” Lawson said, confident on Malik’s ability to lead the team.
After his removal, Malik did temporarily gain captaincy for a few Twenty20 matches when captain Afridi was banned for apparent ball tampering against Australia in a One Day International. His spot as captain or even as a player didn’t last long, as only after a month, he was banned by the PCB following an investigation into the failed tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 couldn’t win even a single match.
Despite the ban being lifted and Malik making a comeback into the national side, chances of him being given the captaincy looked slim from the start. Malik denied any interest in regaining the captaincy, but Lawson strongly believes he’s the right man for the job.
Malik, who recently married Indian tennis star, Sania Mirza, was said to be distracted during practice which cost him his place in the opening Tests. It is believed that Malik is too distracted and it would not be wise to hand him the captaincy at this stage, and the selectors believe that hard working Vice Captain, Salman Butt has earned his place as Captain.
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