We deserve to have Shahid Afridi as our captain
Cricket is a game where a decision can change the course of the match, where a smart move can destroy the confidence of the opponents and where one act can boost the morale of the entire nation. Sadly in Pakistan, the choices are limited because we are afraid of a change that might not work for the team. Nobody thinks ‘what if it works’ because the mind doesn’t go that far… and that’s why Shahid Afridi has found himself as captain of T20 side.
A cricketer with a track record like Afridi’s -- struck a spectator with the bat, chewed off a ball during the match, tampered with the pitch, left captaincy midway during a tour and pushed a fan at the airport -- would have been hardly considered for selection in any other progressive cricketing nation. But in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and even Bangladesh, you can curse the cricket team but not the heartthrob. And that’s what saves Boom Boom’s career whenever it is about to touch rock bottom.
Every cricket enthusiast wants Abdur Razzaq to return to the national side. People who follow the game believe that Anwar Ali should be given a chance as he has the potential to perform. But with the return of Shahid Afridi as captain, you will see his punters like Fawad Alam in the side who are not even in the T20 team. Anwar Ali will not get a chance since Pakistan will have 2 all-rounders in the side -- Mohammad Hafeez and Shahid Afridi -- while fans would never be able to see Abdur Razzaq for the same reason.
I am not saying that Shahid Afridi is a bad choice for a captain -- in fact he was the obvious choice after Misbah ul Haq quit the post (in T20I) and Mohammad Hafeez relinquished it after the failure in World T20. Since our calendar starts and ends with a World Cup, the Board decided to hand over the reins to the swashbuckling all-rounder till 2016 when the next World T20 would be played in India. Wasn’t Jacques Kallis a better choice for captaincy when an unknown Graeme Smith was chosen as South African captain? Isn’t Aaron Finch too new a player to be made the T20 captain of Australia? Weren’t George Bailey of Australia and Lee Germon of New Zealand unknown entities when they were asked to lead their national teams? Those were brave decisions by brave people, and sadly our management doesn’t have an ounce of bravery in their blood otherwise they would have made a long term decision, not a decision to save their posts.
When Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni gets injured or takes a break, India has Virat Kohli and/or Suresh Raina to lead the side. Lasith Malinga led Sri Lanka to triumph in World T20 although Dinesh Chandimal was the captain appointed by the board, but as the wicket-keeper/batsman wasn’t performing, he took the back seat. Can the same phenomenon be applied in Pakistan where every time a tour gets near, journalists, experts and former cricketers open their speculation boxes and deliver a verdict as to who would be the next captain.
Who in his right mind would appoint Ahmed Shehzad as T20 captain when he can’t take the responsibility of opening the batting for his side?
Had Fawad Alam been made the skipper, would he have been able to command the same respect as the seniors in the team? And I am certain that had Sohaib Maqsood been made skipper, the more senior players would have made his life miserable, as they did with Shoaib Malik in 2007! One hopes that sanity prevails in the minds of the cricket administrators before it’s too late, otherwise the team will come back empty handed in 2016 as well, and all the captain would say in his defence would be sorry.
Out of all the players who have led the men in green, Shahid Afridi has the worst record in T20. He has led the side in 19 matches, 11 of which ended in a loss. That doesn’t matter in Pakistan because we only believe in statistics that suit us. Earlier this year when New Zealand’s Corey Anderson blasted the fastest ODI century off 36 balls, most of the Pakistanis believed that since the match was affected by rain, the record doesn’t stand! Yes, that’s how weak we are as cricket enthusiasts, and yes, we deserve to have Shahid Afridi as our captain.