Afridi named captain until 2016 World T20

Published September 17, 2014
SHAHID Afridi ... gets the T20 charge to rejuvenate himself before the World Cup
SHAHID Afridi ... gets the T20 charge to rejuvenate himself before the World Cup

LAHORE: Veteran all-rounder Shahid Afridi finally regained captaincy of T20 side on Tuesday until the 2016 World Twenty20 in place of Mohammad Hafeez with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) reiterating Misbah-ul-Haq will continue to lead Test and ODI teams until the 2015 World Cup.

Though experts were expecting that a young cricketer will get chance to lead the T20 side in the next World Twenty20, the PCB opted for an experienced pro in Afridi, since no young player seemed capable of taking responsibility of leading the T20 outfit.

Afridi has also been expressing his desire for captaincy and has once ended up being penalised for making comments in this regard.


Pressure mounts on Misbah to put ODI team on winning path before 2015 World Cup


Last time, the veteran all-rounder was dethroned in 2011 from ODI and T20 captaincy when he returned from the tour of West Indies where he had developed differences with then (and now) head coach Waqar Younis and then PCB chairman Ijaz Butt.

Soon after returning from the West Indies, Afridi gave hard-hitting statements against the PCB as a result of which he was served legal notice with the Board opting to replace him with Misbah as T20 and ODI skipper.

Though Misbah handled captaincy in all the three formats successfully, next PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf removed him as T20 captain handing it over to Hafeez. Notwithstanding, Hafeez failed to give satisfactory results in the last World T20 as a result of which he stepped down having met the-then PCB chairman Najam Sethi in April.

As there was no T20 cricket in the calendar of activities until now, the PCB kept its decision with regard to the new T20 captain in pending. However, with T20 matches in the forthcoming series against Australia and New Zealand around the corner, the PCB had no choice but to pick Afridi as new T20 captain having failed to find appropriate player for the task.

MISBAH-ul-Haq ... to remain under the scanner in the lead-up to 2015 showpiece
MISBAH-ul-Haq ... to remain under the scanner in the lead-up to 2015 showpiece

One of the main reasons of Afridi getting T20 captaincy is the fact that despite leading national side with satisfactory winning record in the last four years, ODI and Test captain Misbah is considered a defensive captain due to which cricket experts/lobbies have long been advocating Afridi as ODI and T20 captain because of his aggressive nature.

Therefore, it is believed that the PCB lobby supporting Afridi as captain in the shorter version of the game has completed half its task by getting Afridi announced as T20 captain with the same lobby to be making all-out effort to help Afridi become ODI captain before the 2015 World Cup.

“A fine individual performance against Australia and New Zealand in the upcoming series can save Misbah from the pro-Afridi lobby. Otherwise, he is vulnerable,” a PCB official commented.

On the other hand, the PCB wanted to test Afridi by appointing him as T20 skipper in back-to-back series against Australia and New Zealand with the board until Monday adhering to its decision of making Afridi on trail basis but when the Board officially announced its decision on Tuesday it surprised everyone in PCB circles by declaring Afridi as Twenty20 captain until 2016 Word Twenty.

In this regard, well-informed sources told Dawn: “The PCB was under pressure from influential circles within the PCB regarding appointment of Afridi as next T20 captain but it was never intended to keep him as Twenty20 captain until 2016 World Twenty20.”

The sources further said: “The official announcement about Afridi T20 captaincy on Tuesday was a surprising one,” adding: “I don’t know what happened in 24 hours.”

They also maintained that in this situation Test and ODI captain Misbah should be more careful by giving good performance against Australia and New Zealand if he wants to press ahead as captain.

The very first assignment of the new T20 captain is the one-off T20 against Australia scheduled to be held in Dubai on Oct 5 followed by two T20s which will be played as part of a full-fledged series against New Zealand in the UAE.

Meanwhile, the PCB issued a press release stating: “Shahid Afridi has been announced as captain of the Pakistan T20 squad till the ICC World T20 in 2016. The slot was lying vacant following Mohammad Hafeez’ resignation after the ICC World T20 held in Bangladesh.

“The decision to retain Misbah-ul-Haq as captain of Test and One Day squad till next year’s ICC World Cup was also reaffirmed.

Commenting on these developments PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said: “In line with my policy of taking decisions democratically, I consulted the cricket committee and my Board members before announcing these decisions. I wish both Afridi and Misbah good luck in their upcoming assignments.”

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2014

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