Shoaib Malik Ought To Be the Captain: Geoff Lawson
The inevitable captaincy debate is rolling once again as the most unpredictable cricketer of the modern times Shahid Afridi decides to quit test cricket after leading his team in all of one test against the Australians who continue to torment the Pakistanis in test cricket having taken their winning streak against them to 13 test matches a run that started in 1999, when Michael Slater blazed away to a memorable hundred tearing apart a Pakistani bowling attack comprising of Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar and Mushtaq Ahmed.
After the defeat in the opening test at Lords, Afridi decided that he had no patience left for the longest format of the game and it was best that he relinquished the captaincy rather than hanging around needlessly, in an arena he did not belong.
Meanwhile former Australian pace man Geoff Lawson who coached Pakistan for more than a year after their disastrous performance in the 2007 50 over World Cup feels that Salman Butt's appointment as captain of the Test side is ahead of time and another decision by the Pakistan Cricket Board that defies logic.
Lawson added that the man who captained the team in his reign as coach all-rounder Shoaib Malik should have been chosen to captain ahead of Butt.
The Aussies quick of the 80’s lamented the call, adding that Salman Butt had only recently cemented his place in the test team and needs more time before the mantle of captaincy is passed onto him.
Lawson who failed to deliver much as Pakistan’s coach remained under the spotlight of the local media, as his only major success was taking the team to the finals of the inaugural T20 World championships that the men in green lost after an epic final against the Indians at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
He was dismissed by PCB six months before the culmination of his two year contract with the cricket board.
Shoaib Malik was sent packing, and replaced by seasoned batsman Younis Khan after Pakistan lost a One-Day International series at the hands of Sri Lanka at home with a sound 234 run defeat in the final match of the series at the Qaddafi stadium in Lahore.
"It might've been premature to name him captain then. Yet three years on, he's certainly capable of being captain again," said Lawson.
"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.
The controversy prone all-rounder from Sialkot had another brief stint as captain of the national team on the eve of the T20 World championship in Dubai, in a two match series against England.
He was named captain after Afridi faced a two match ban after gnawing at the ball in an ODI in Perth.
Malik’s troubles resurfaced when he faced a one year ban in the wake of the disastrous Australian tour when it surfaced that he was a bad influence to the team due to his constant politics and gamesmanship off the field.
As expected the ban was removed two months later and Malik who had in the meanwhile married tennis star Sania Mirza returned to the team for the tour of Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup cricket tournament.
After his recent spate of controversies Lawson believes that the all-rounder has matured immensely and needs to be named national captain, since he is the man of the future.
"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.
What ever Lawson might think, one think is only certain in the ranks of Pakistan cricket and that is uncertainty and controversy.
Even if Malik is not made the captain immediately, one can bet his bottom dollar that he is set to return for at least one more stint before he quits the game.
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