#360debate: Is Afridi a good captain?

Sport360 staff 10:47 21/03/2016
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  • Shahid Afridi.

    After returning to winning ways against Bangladesh, defeat to bitter rivals India this week was a body-blow for Pakistan cricket.

    While the Asian side have not been widely tipped to achieve World T20 success, there can be no doubting the talent in their ranks and their was real cause for optimism in the clash with India.

    With that in mind, today’s #360debate is: IS PAKISTAN’S SHAHID AFRIDI A GOOD CAPTAIN? 

    Ajit Vijaykumar, assistant news editor, says YES

    One crushing win and a defeat in the World T20 is neither a good nor bad start for Pakistan. While they proved their mettle against Bangladesh, a resurgent India and a spin- friendly wicket was too much for them in Kolkata.

    A lot of cricket remains to be played, but performances are already coming under the scanner, including the leadership of Shahid Afridi.

    If you assess the captaincy of Afridi, it might not be the most inspirational one going around but given the constraints of Pakistan cricket, it is good.

    There are only two players in the Pakistan set-up who command universal respect of the team and management– Misbah-ul Haq and Afridi. He is definitely under pressure to deliver but there is no denying Afridi is the best they have as a leader in limited-overs cricket.

    In the first match against Bangladesh, Afridi smashed 49 from 19 balls, took two wickets and the world was a bed of roses. And when India were 23 for three chasing 119 at Eden Gardens, anything seemed possible.

    In hindsight, maybe Mohammad Sami should have bowled his full quota of overs. But what hurt the team was the lack of help Shoaib Malik got with his off-spinners, which resulted in all the inroads made by the pacers becoming redundant.

    Afridi has been playing international cricket for two decades and was instrumental in helping Pakistan win the 2009 World T20. He has tried to keep the team together in the aftermath of the 2010 spot fixing scandal and only a handful of skippers in the history of the game have had to endure that.

    So considering the team dynamics and the difficulties the team has faced over the years, Afridi is a good captain because he has tried to make the best of a tough situation. As a skipper he has won 19 and lost 18 ODIs while in T20s his record is 19 victories and 21 defeats.

    Overall, that is a 50-50 verdict and while it might not be an outstanding record for established teams, for Pakistan it is a commendable feat.

    And anyhow, Pakistan are not out of the World T20 and are capable of making the cut for the next stage. Three or four wins and Afridi might just become the king of the T20 world again.

    Jaideep Marar, assistant editor, says NO

    If a poll is to be conducted now in Pakistan on Shahid Afridi’s captaincy, especially after the defeat to India on Saturday, chances are that it would be 100 per cent negative.

    Any defeat to India is not taken lightly in Pakistan and already obituaries on his career are being written. It’s unfair to undermine his contributions to Pakistan cricket but the team’s supporters indeed have a case against his captaincy, which has been pretty average to say the least.

    This year Pakistan have played nine Twenty20 Internationals, lost five and won just four including a seven-wicket success against UAE.

    I’m not sure if tactical brilliance and Afridi go hand-in-hand because had it been the case he would be one of the leading run-getters in limited-overs cricket.

    The defeats to India in Asia Cup and in Kolkata were littered with captaincy howlers. In Dhaka he admitted to not reading the pitch properly where his batsmen faltered miserably.

    At Eden Gardens too the same pattern followed as he went in with just one specialist spinner on a turning track replacing left-arm tweaker Imaad Wasim with pacer Mohammad Sami.

    There appears to be no order in the batting order as well. Wicketkeeper batsman Sarfraz Ahmed has time and again proved to be one of their best crisis managers yet he comes too low down with little left to salvage.

    Sarfraz came in at No. 6 in Dhaka and was their top-scorer (25) and on Saturday he batted at the same position when he should have been coming in early. Equally baffling was Afridi promot- ing himself at No. 3, instead of the experienced Mohammad Hafeez, who was their top-scorer at the same venue in their opening game against Bangladesh.

    Afridi’s brand of batsmanship was never going to succeed on a pitch turning square whereas a Hafeez or a Sarfraz were better options to keep the scorecard ticking over. And what were the plans for removing India’s, and maybe the world’s best batsman, Virat Kohli? None.

    If a captain is not able to judge playing surfaces and decide on an effective batting order, then there is bound to be chaos.

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