Sarfaraz is a mere pawn with no personality of his own: Aaqib Javed

Fast bowling great Aaqib Javed has  lashed out at captain Sarfaraz Ahmed,  calling him a "mere pawn" who simply does what he's told  by the head coach, Geo News reported on Wednesday

After Pakistan were brushed aside in the T20I series by a Sri Lanka  side that few had given a chance,  Javed went after the skipper, lambasting him for not having  a personality of his own.

“Sri Lanka achieved a lot in this series despite sending their A team. Their captain led with a daring mindset, which trickled down in their players," said Javed, whose  Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise has finished at the bottom in each of the first four season.

"Meanwhile, just take a look at Sarfaraz. He adopts the approach of whatever coach there is. He is not a captain actually. He takes the field as a mere pawn and then asks every time ‘Misbah bhai what should I do now?’

“If Sarfaraz were a [real] captain, he would never have accepted Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad.”

'Misbah is a puppet'

Javed also  lambasted Pakistan head coach  Misbahul Haq, accusing him being a puppet of someone else.

“Someone else is pulling Misbah-ul-Haq’s strings,” he said. “There is someone who is dictating to him.

“The kind of personality and mindset Misbah has, I cannot even think that the decision to play Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad could be his.”

“Misbah and Waqar Younis, as the captain and head coach, had written letters regarding these players,” Javed said of a scathing report penned by Waqar Younis, a two-time former head coach who is now the bowling coach.

“They wanted this duo to be kept away from the national fold then how come have they brought them back? I just cannot believe that the decision to recall them was theirs."

'Imran's unilateral decisions worked'

Javed, who was a part of the  1992 World Cup winning team, revealed that Imran Khan would also take unilateral decisions, just like Misbah is doing now. However, he said that Imran  was never hell-bent on trying out players who failed to deliver time and again.

“Imran Khan would bring new players and fight for them but he did not do that with players who have been tried and failed 10 times," he said.

“If we keep on doing this then we’d never progress."