Pakistan cricket has now embarked on a new mission with the elevation of Test specialist Azhar Ali as the 26th captain of the national one-day side.

Monday’s official announcement was reduced to a mere formality after the 30-year-old right-handed batsman had emerged as the strongest candidate as media had reported two days earlier following PCB chairman Shaharyar M. Khan’s parleys with a horde of people who matter in Pakistan cricket.

Acting upon their advice, the chairman threw his weight behind Azhar, whose nomination as successor to the now retired ODI skipper Misbah-ul-Haq was met with mixed feelings.

One conspicuous reason for diverse response is definitely Azhar’s very credentials as a player for a format which has seen him make just a handful of appearances — 13 in all from May 2011 to January 2013 — with a strike of 64.84.

But Pakistan, as the chairman openly pointed out, needs to move forward rather than press the reverse gear and installed someone accustomed to the limited-overs arena. Thus, the future was focal point behind this thinking. In fact, the step planned is a clean break from the era gone by.

Sarfraz Ahmed can now feel much more comfortable with the knowledge that he is certainty for all three formats, form and fitness permitting, after being appointed vice-captain to both Azhar and the T20 skipper Shahid Afridi.

And once Misbah retires from Test cricket in the not-too-distant future, the first-choice deputy to Azhar — who has been given additional responsibility as the Test vice-captain — could be Sarfraz by the time wicket-keeper/batsman is ready to take over the T20 leadership when Afridi’s planned swansong at next year’s World T20 in India.

The grooming process was glaringly missing from our cricketing culture for a quite few years, which indeed, was very surprising to all onlookers despite the fact Pakistan have virtually been playing all their matches overseas — a legacy born out of the Lahore attacks on the Sri Lanka cricketers six years ago.

Normally, a majority of cricket teams across the globe have a vice-captain when touring abroad but Pakistan, for reasons best known to the board officialdom never name one in any of the formats. The last officially announced vice-captain probably was Younis Khan when Inzamam-ul-Haq was the leader of the pack.

The teeming up of Azhar and Sarfraz under the guidance of head coach Waqar Younis would be followed with a lot of interest. While both are gutsy players, willing to fight on until the end, they bring a totally different culture in the post-World Cup era.

Azhar is not exactly a Misbah as many are led to believe. Having known him for a while at the domestic level, Azhar has the qualities which are the hallmark of any good captain. Undemonstrative and soft-spoken Azhar is held in high esteem by his Pakistan team-mates.

Sarfraz, in contrast is a bubbly character who has already proven his worth as a brave cricketer and daring batsman and one who has the audacity to sweep pace bowlers when his adrenalin is pumping and the confidence high.

Pakistan are extremely fortunate that their designated vice-captain is a World Cup-winning captain at the Under-19 level in 2006. Thus, leadership is no stranger to Sarfraz who has virtually not looked back after stop-start initiation in topflight cricket in January last year. He is destined to become the first wicket-keeper to lead Pakistan at the T20 level in 2016 if everything goes well as chalked out by the PCB.

Pakistan are also lucky that their first assignments under new ODI leaders are not against five-time World Cup champions Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or India but against a much-improved Bangladesh and a Sri Lankan side in transition following the golden era of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.

Despite making history with quarter-final World Cup qualification Down Under, lowly-ranked Bangladesh shouldn’t give Azhar, Sarfraz and rest of Pakistan team much headache to start with.

But the PCB must not give Azhar and Sarfraz the confidence that they would welcome most in what is surely going to be a critical phase for Pakistan cricket. The team culture needs drastic overhauling and the players with disruptive mindset and selfish attitude — no matter whoever they are without bothering about their reputation —will the last thing Pakistan require.

To win back the fans, who were yet again left in a depressing state of mind, Pakistan need a dramatic turnaround, something which was sadly missing during Misbah’s reign as ODI skipper. The partnership of Azhar and Sarfraz must think and act differently to set the tone upfront.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2015

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