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“Bring back Shahid Afridi as captain because Misbah lacks aggression, both as captain and batsman.” -Photo by AP
KARACHI: Former players rallied round Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq on Wednesday despite his side's woeful showing in the 4-0 one-day series mauling by England.
Pakistan failed to carry the momentum of their 3-0 Test whitewash of England in the UAE into the one dayers, losing all four games to suggest they will be vulnerable to their resurgent rivals in the Twenty20 series starting Thursday.
England strolled to a four-wicket win in the fourth game in Dubai on Tuesday, with Kevin Pietersen hitting a second successive hundred.
The sudden slump in form prompted former captain Imran Khan to bemoan a lack of depth in Pakistan's squad.
“England lifted itself after the Test defeat while Pakistan failed to carry on the good work,” Khan told reporters.
“We lacked depth in bowling and batting and that helped England win all the matches.”
But the legendary all-rounder backed captain Misbah-ul Haq to continue as skipper in the short form of the game, having already led a remarkable revival of the Test side.
“Misbah needs to show more aggression but its early to write him off,” said Khan, who led Pakistan to their only World Cup win in 1992.
“Misbah must bat up the order to get good totals.”
Khan rejected the suggestion the side would be better served by seperate captains for the three forms of the game.
“If one captain is doing well in all three forms of the game then there is no use having separate captains,” said Khan.
Former spinner Iqbal Qasim also backed Misbah, urging critics to give him time to turn around the side's one-day fortunes.
“He has committed some mistakes but we should back him,” he said, adding that the team appeared to relax in the one-day series after their Test win.
“There was lack of consistency in the selection, sometimes they played with four spinners and just one seamer which affected their performance,” he said.
Qasim said Pakistan must chose specialists for Tests and limited overs.
“Like other teams we should also designate some players for Tests, some for one-day and some for Twenty20 because this has proved beneficial for other teams,” said Qasim.
Fans have been less supportive, criticising Misbah despite Pakistan's recent Test successes.
“Bring back Shahid Afridi as captain because Misbah lacks aggression, both as captain and batsman,” said student Rehan Mahmood.
“We need to have an aggressive captain like Afridi.”
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Comments (38) Closed
Feb 22, 2012 08:36pm
Pakistam should bat well in all formates of game if they want to move up in cricketing world
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Feb 22, 2012 08:55pm
Pakistan just played bad cricket. The last match was just a complete joke, especially the team combination going in with just one fast bowler and 4 spinners.
Malik has had way too many chances and it's time to drop him for good.
Our batting is just too weak and the likes of Umar Akmal do not know how to control their shots.
Misbah has done well and he should be persevered with as besides him there is no other candidate for captaincy.
Afridi has been given plenty of chances and he will only make it worse. One of the skills of captaincy for example is to show some responsibility and application when you come out to bat not just throw the bat wildly and get out like Afridi.
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Feb 22, 2012 09:16pm
I agree with Qasim that Misbah should be given more time. I also agree that Misbah lacks in aggression he is too cool but he has to play a little up in the batting order to boost the runs.
I do not agree that Afridi will be suitable choice for a captain though I fully endorse him for one day matches like 20/20 and one days. One thing I will like to add that no doubt Afridi is a fantastic cricketer as a bowler as well as a batsman but one thing he lalcks is that he does not like to stay on the crease for long and even bat singles and twos and if need be keep playing slow and no need to hit sixes and get caught as has been seen in most of the matches after 50 he starts hitting out and gets caught and that bes the end this he should stop and as a mature player should keep staying on the wicket as long as needed to make runs gradually and give moral support to his team. Best of luck for pakistan team in future.
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Feb 22, 2012 09:58pm
Get both men out of the cricket team.Let the young players take the charge.As long as these old faces are in the team;there will always be a politics.Talking about Shahid Afridi,he does not play for the country;instead he plays for the spectators.He never realize the responsibility that he needs to stay on the crease.Look at his record.How many ODI he has played and where he stands as total scorer.
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Feb 22, 2012 10:06pm
You cannot make someone captain who bite balls and unreliable.
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Feb 22, 2012 11:40pm
Afridi is in my opinion not a captain call in any sense or purpose just give him the ball to either Chew at it or roll over his arm to hope for the best .He himself has stated he is not a batsman but a bowler as such so as long as he can perform that specific role for the team ODI or T20 she should be good enough for the team ( as long as he is pyhsically 100% fit and delivering , he stays in the 2 format team . He is Not a National team captaincy material in any of the form as per my views people may differ !
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Feb 22, 2012 11:43pm
Afridi needs to open batting in T-20. If he can survive 4 overs than goal should be to score the maximum runs possible by him.
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Feb 23, 2012 12:18am
Misbah is a very poor one day captain.He let the English take singles too easly, and he should face more balls when batting with the tail.
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Feb 23, 2012 01:00am
Pakistan needs Younis Khan to lead the side, He is intelligent and agressive captain. Where as Misbah is cool and defensive. Misbah on the other hand giving chances to players like farhat and malik without merit.Misbah is old horse and should retire from all form of cricket.
Afridi cannot lead, he will do silly things on the field which will bring bad name to Pakistan.
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Feb 23, 2012 01:43am
How can a player whose own performance is not consistent can be named as a captain? Aggression is not the only thing thats required in one-day cricket, i think its more of the coolness which a captain should have combined with the support of the agressive bowlers, batsmen and more importantly allrounders. And this was all missing from Paki Team in the recent one-day series.....
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Feb 23, 2012 06:30am
BUT Shahid Afridi is immature yet.
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Feb 23, 2012 07:35am
I thought we had crossed this hurdle. Afridi is too immature and emotional to lead the side. Misbah is THE choice.
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Feb 23, 2012 07:41am
Misbah is by far a better choice. He is not going to go for six for every ball and end up having just a 1 figure score most times.
He is by far more mature and has patience to spare.
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Feb 23, 2012 09:45am
Again the same story. Same politics. Afridi has the same match with Misba, as a temperamental show man verses a mature sincere player.
Afridi has yet to clear the ball tempering incident of Australia.
Who would like such things?
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Feb 23, 2012 12:40pm
Afridi was the best thing to have happened to Pakistan cricket in a long time.... He is a MUCH better ODI captain than Misbah. He has aggression and passion needed in Pak cricket nowadays. Misbah is only good for tests besides Misbah can only play a year more or so.
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Feb 23, 2012 01:05pm
Afridi needs to open batting in T-20. afridi is better captain for odi and t20 misbah only play test cricket
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Feb 23, 2012 01:23pm
Its high time now for Afridi. He needs to grow up and show maturity at this level(perhaps too late now), he is not playing street cricket. The player doesn't need to be in the team on past performances only but this happens in our team. Maybe, due to his presence in ODIs changed the mindset of the team.
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Feb 23, 2012 01:46pm
we need captain like afridi.
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Feb 23, 2012 02:43pm
I totally agree, The more you try to hit sixes on every ball, you are more likely to get out or you provide more opportunity for opposition to get you out! However I certainly feel Misbah lacks a bit of "aggression" he needs to be strict on times and shouldn't ignore mistakes or mishaps which could cause Pakistan the match. Again areas such as wicketkeeping, batting is where Misbah and Dave need to sit down and work upon. Batting has been a concern especially the openers since the time, the Golden era for Pakistan when Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar use to open the innings. Thank you
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Feb 23, 2012 02:46pm
I agree..Afridi lacks consistency whereas Mishbah has been performing well if you compare the track record.
Misbah should be given more opportunity in my views.
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Feb 23, 2012 03:03pm
Its time for misbah to get retire from all form of cricket. Becoz he has no agressions and also lack of running between the wickets. That all things are hitting pk cricket badly. So misbah should have to think about this!
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Feb 23, 2012 03:52pm
Afridi has never been the capataincy material. A man with experience of over 300 ODI's has yet to know which shot to play when. When to take batting power play. It would be disastrous to re-appoint him as capatain for ODI or T20. Let him stay where he is, that's enough.
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Feb 23, 2012 04:34pm
its not afridi or misbhaa that effect the game its how u play to win it are u eager to win or these mens to afraid to lose it that they never concentrate or focus on whats happening the fear of losing can make u absent minded that's whats happening
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Feb 23, 2012 05:03pm
for god shake get rid of imran farhat and sohaib malik bring in imran nazir and nasir jamshed and two middle order batsmen who can capitalise on the start and can make big scores unlike umar akmal and all who get the start and throw their wicket after scoring 50 or odd taht was the major eria where we couldnt match england in the current odis just look at the innings of kp and cook ones they got going they went on to score big hundreds...and yeah our strenght is the fast bowling and not the spinners so plz bring in two young lads likes of amir and asif stop relying on the spinners we all know spinners cant win us odis and ttwentis
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Feb 23, 2012 05:08pm
If Afridi's presence in ODI changed the mindset then you must go and play in place of Afridi. Afridi is a very gud player no doubt bt we cnt expect a player to always play well. This is nt fair to critisize a player when he dnt play well. One must nt forget Afridi did lot for Pakistan cricket. And moreover there must be no debate on who must be the captain,bcz Afridi already told in future he would nt accept captaincy.he is happy with what he is. So no other option, Misbah must remain captain.
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Feb 23, 2012 06:41pm
In last 2 years Afridi has one so many matches for Pakistan. Don't think there is any doubt in Afridi ability to win matches. He has said so many times, he is a bowler who can bat. Why do we expect him to play a big inning all the time. Stop complaining about Afridi. There are so many other players who should not be in team. We need Afridi. He is the match winner.
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Feb 23, 2012 07:00pm
Please people we dont need afridi as our captain. Afridi cant even control himself , how will he control the team. By the way afridi is himself 37 if u go look his true age.
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Feb 23, 2012 07:34pm
Mohammad Yousaf should be seleted because our bating is vry weak
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Feb 23, 2012 08:21pm
If Afridi is not interested captaincy. I think Ajmal is great choice.
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Feb 23, 2012 08:46pm
it is correctly advised by fomer skipper to continue misbah as captaim and they well admonish miabah to be aggressive.
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Feb 23, 2012 11:26pm
Afridi is a star performer and a definite match-winner. He should be in as captain. Sorry misbah, we don't want you. You are too lazy to lead the green boys.
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Feb 24, 2012 02:05am
sorry afridi is fine where he is. i agree that misbah lacks aggression but there is no one else we can have
As for afridi people criticizing him need to open their eyes. afridi bats at number 6 or seven. how can u expect him to make runs when the rest of the team has done a big round 0. yh he plays rash strokes but that is his nature and u cant fight it. though he has played some good mature innings for pakistan such as in the 3rd odi when he made 50. he has said many times that he is a bowler who can bat. dont rely oin him to make runs rely on him too bowl well. hence why i think he should have 1 good batsmen after him due to his way of playing.
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Feb 25, 2012 11:09am
Well its just that Misbah just doesn't have a single agressive bone in his body. Only agresive captains succeed and thats it.
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Feb 25, 2012 12:32pm
we need a captain like afridi..don't forget he comes in top 5 all rounder..we are expecting to much from him. Everyone deserves a second chance, even afridi does. Afridi deserv a chace.
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Feb 28, 2012 02:19pm
Jaan, how you find he is 37. Are you so personal to him?
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Feb 28, 2012 05:46pm
Shahid afridi should be the captain cz he deserves this.
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Mar 01, 2012 12:15pm
Afridi is a good player in odis & t20s as a bower. I want him to b captain but he himself has said that he will not take it if offers. Then if we have to look for future then Pakistan should appoint hafeez as limited over captain & for batting the great Mohammad Yousuf should bring back in place of misbah
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Mar 01, 2012 12:18pm
Afridi is a good player in odis & t20s as a bower. I want him to b captain but he himself has said that he will not take it if offers. Then if we have to look for future then Pakistan should appoint hafeez as limited over captain & for batting the great Mohammad Yousuf & hard hitting Imran Nazir should bring back in place of misbah & political imran farhat
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