After Shahid Afridi’s amazing whirlwind beauty of an innings against New Zealand today, I am feeling more upbeat on Shahid Afridi than ever. Rumour has it that others are too and he may be finally named as Pakistan’s team captain for the 2011 ICC World Cup Cricket.
With 22 days left to the tournament, every other team except Pakistan has announced their captain. Not a distinction that one would want. So, the sooner we name a captain, the better. More than anyone else, the team needs to know so that they can wrap their mind around the idea of whoever it is.
The two leading contenders are Misbah-ul-Haq (who leads the Pakistan Test team) and Shahid Afridi (who is leading the Pakistan one-day team). I am rooting for Shahid Afridi despite some real bad behavior from him in the past. Not just because he is the more exciting player, but also because he is more experienced, because he is temperamentally more attuned to the one-day format, but most importantly because he leads aggressively, plays to win, and put all he has in trying to win.
Till a few hours ago I was rather agnostic between the two and could have voted for either of them (Misbah did have a good Test series as captain). But right now I see Shahid Afridi’s innings and attitude today and compare it with Misbah’s batting and strategy in the second Test match against New Zealand (which he let slide), and comparing the two I know exactly who I will go with – Shahid Afridi.
Who would you go with?
Afridi has not been able to demonstrate leadership qualities. In crunch games, he often seems to be much more fidgety and reckless than the inexperienced lot. That being sad, I think it was yet another nonsensical move by PCB not to assign the captain. Misbah has done well as test captain recently, but that doesn’t mean he should be made captain across formats…obviously they did not take team dynamics seriously, which is a particularly important issue for a team like Pakistan.
Changing captains at this stage will only hurt Pakistan’s chances at the world cup. And Misbah has not been a regular fixture in the ODI side, which makes Afridi a better candidate.
Afridi can be exciting but I still think Misbah is more dependable and mature. We need a leader not just a star!
Afridi today was one of the very best I have ever seen.
Offcourse Shahid, though Misbah has shown very mature leadership in the test series but i guess its too early to make him captain especially for a series like World Cup – anyhow lets see what PCB is up to