The Growing Dilemma of one-day captaincy for Pakistan Cricket Board
In wake of Pakistan’s recent one-day whitewash by the hands of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033 (UAE), the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has a dilemma on its hands as to who should be named as the captain of the limited overs squad.
It is obviously clear that the reigning skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972, who is perhaps Pakistan’s finest Test captain, is quite not the skipper which Pakistan needs in the 50-over game.
Misbah’s calm demeanour is being adjudged as his Achilles heel in the game of cricket, and with the new chairman Zaka Ashraf seeking the redemption of Pakistan cricket, it is time that the Men in Green get a new captain in the faster format.
However, the problem which the PCB is facing right now is to who should replace Misbah.
Former one-day captain, Shahid Afridi, seems like an obvious choice, but the question is can he still play the next World Cup? And is he in the right frame of mind after being relinquished from his captaincy stint when he developed bitter relationship with the then head coach http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Waqar-Younis-Maitla-c96193.
If PCB decides to supersede Afridi, then stands - out of form http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shoaib-Malik-c90088 - in the line, who has shown little to impress anyone in the ongoing series against the Poms.
With Malik in dire form, PCB cannot and should not gamble by naming such a vulnerable one-day captain.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Younis-Khan-c98325, has certainly passed his prime and might not be fit enough to play the next World Cup.
Opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898 is another prospect, but with his recent dip in form, he might not get enough support within the board to be named as the one-day captain.
So where does the PCB go on from here? As they are clearly out of options and need to take the captaincy decision sooner than later.
The hard-hitting middle-order batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Umar-Akmal-c94595 may seem like an appropriate choice, but then again, the batsman is too young to be given charge of the national team and he still has a lot to prove before he could seriously be considered for the job, nonetheless, he is currently the most suitable among the young lot in the national team.
Ashraf surely has his work cut out for him, as he needs to sit down with the national selectors and the next coach to be http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Davenell-Frederick-Whatmore-c52571 in order to find a solution to the captaincy issue.
For the time being, perhaps http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 world cup 2011, where Pakistan – a side written off – reached the semi-final of the mega event.
With Afridi as the one-day captain and Misbah taking care of the Test side, things could work for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755.
However, Zaka http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashraf-c46397 needs to comprehend the fact that the time has come to look for the next generation of players which means that Pakistan cricket needs to inject young players in the national team and then have faith in them by giving them enough time to settle in.
It is obviously asking for too much if the PCB expects a youngster to score a ton in his early games, the board needs to be patient which is the only way to groom young players who will take over from the aging fleet of Pakistani players currently wearing the national colours.
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