nother tour ended with another series defeat. It was Pakistan’s sixth consecutive bilateral ODI series defeat against Australia. The last time Pakistan won was in 2002 when they beat Australia 2-1 in Australia.

There are calls for removing Azhar Ali as ODI captain. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan has hinted that it’s time to decide Azhar’s fate as ODI captain.

Azhar took over as ODI captain after the 2015 World Cup debacle; surprisingly he was not in the World Cup squad. He had not played ODIs since January 2013.

No doubt he is a very fine Test player for his technique and patience but the ODI requirements are different.

Under Azhar Pakistan won five out of 10 bilateral series, two of them against Zimbabwe, and one each against Ireland, Sri Lanka and West Indies. Pakistan did not win against any top-ranked team under his leadership.

During his tenure, Pakistan won 12 and lost 18 ODIs due to which Pakistan slipped to a record-low ninth in the rankings.

But who will replace Azhar? Twenty20 captain Sarfraz Ahmed is the strongest candidate. It won’t matter who leads because the mindset is the key and that has to change.

Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq says that changing the captain makes no difference when the team is the same.

Muhammad Hafeez is the easiest target of bowlers. A mediocre fast bowler knows how to dismiss him. He always drives away from the body and sends an outside edge to slips or the keeper. He has played 181 ODIs and 50 Test matches in his 14-year career, but can’t control his weakness.

In the ODI series he scored only 123 runs, including 72 at MCG and 51 runs in other four innings. Interestingly, at MCG he also gifted his wicket in the same style in the first over of the innings but survived because it was a no ball.

Umar Akmal once again failed to justify his selection, scoring only 141 runs in five matches. Umar and Shoaib Malik failed to score a fifty in the series.

What are the justifications of not picking young players who remain top scorers in domestic cricket?

Pakistan’s last quality batsman was Muhammad Yousuf. Misbah and Younis are good but not consistent.

The management should pick the players directly from under-19 and work with them, so that they could be ready for international cricket by the age of 24-25.

In the last decade or so Pakistan failed to produce a consistent opening pair. In every series, we saw a new opener.

Sharjeel Khan is an aggressive opener and scored three fifties in ODI series against Australia, but he believes only in boundaries and doesn’t know how to rotate the strike. In the last 12 months, Sharjeel has had the highest strike rate in ODIs of all batsmen who have batted a minimum of 10 innings. England’s Buttler and Australian batsmen Maxwell are the next two in the list.

Muhammad Rizwan cemented his place after the departure of wicket-keeper batsman Sarfraz to home due to his mother’s illness.

Hasan Ali (308), Mohammad Amir (283), Junaid Khan (241), Imad Wasim (200), Hafeez (195) and Wahab Riaz (104 in two matches) gave too many runs. Our bowlers conceded 1331 runs for 30 wickets, averaging 44.36 per wicket.

Pakistan’s win in Melbourne was their first ODI win against Australia on their soil in 12 years. Pakistan last won at WACA in 2004-05.