[VIDEO] "Babar Azam should step down as Pakistan skipper in the white ball formats": Kamran Akmal

[MenInG]

Kamran Akmal chats with Saj about selection policies, Pakistan Test team's struggles, Babar Azam's captaincy, changes needed in Pakistan domestic cricket and more.

[ArabKnight]

Kamran Akmal was more talented batsman than Babar Azam. However he did not get as much chances.

I would bench Babar and introduce Kamran as opener in the T20 squad. The captain of T20 team should be Shadab.

[W63L35]

Babar Azam's T20I Captaincy Record against captains of other teams.
Qualification: Catained in minimum 40 T20Is.

[W63L35]

Babar Azam's ODI Captaincy Record against Pakistani ODI Captains.
Qualification: Captained in minimum 10 ODIs.

[ask_analyse_act]

Changing and chopping captains will do more bad than good..

He is the only world class batsman they have and also the first name in the teamsheet..

They need proper qualified , experienced supporting staff to guide them.. Im sure he will be a different captain under Mickey, Moody or Hesson

They lack direction , fear of losing captaincy , place in the team , keeping buddies in the team are cause of job insecurity..
Proper man management team will erase those items, give a hand and guide them with a short and long term plan just like how Mickey did for the white ball team..

For example batsman like Azhar Ali who has been playing since 2010 was only tried as a test opener during Mickey's time which he tasted great success , those hundreds in Eng and double ton in Aus were the highlights of his career.. also a triple ton in UAE..

[Saj]

Babar Azam's ODI Captaincy Record against Pakistani ODI Captains.
Qualification: Captained in minimum 10 ODIs.

But then people will say out of those 12 wins:

2 were against Zimbabwe
3 were against Netherlands
3 were against West Indies

[Saj]

Is Babar the right man to skipper Pakistan in any format is probably the question that needs to be asked.

I'm not sure he has the leadership qualities needed at the highest level of cricket.

[Sunny_majoka]

He has a point. Babar Is not a fit for this position in any format however, we don't have consistent performer in tests apart from babar, imam can be good option for test captaincy may be?

[gibsyhesperis]

Is Babar the right man to skipper Pakistan in any format is probably the question that needs to be asked.

I'm not sure he has the leadership qualities needed at the highest level of cricket.

I think the answer is clearly no, in that he is a poor and limited captain, will not improve significantly and an experinced coach won't be able to turn him into a good captain.

However, he is Pakistan's only world class batsman (those who claim otherwise either have a vendetta or simply have no understanding).

Does he have the maturity to accept he should "only" play as a batsman not as captain (like Tendulkar, Atherton, Root did) or will he throw his toys out of the pram (like Lara and countless deposed Pakistani captains of the past) ?

[gibsyhesperis]

Saj -- thanks for this interview.
He came across far more thoughtful than I expected in terms of his views on selection, first class structure and not choosing players for Tests based on PSL performances.
Thanks again

[Savak]

Lol at the posters who are claiming that because he is the only world class batsman in the team, he deserves to hold on to the captaincy. That is not a criterion and should have no bearing

[MenInG]

Lol at the posters who are claiming that because he is the only world class batsman in the team, he deserves to hold on to the captaincy. That is not a criterion and should have no bearing

Basically a player who can hold his place in the side needs to be a captain.

[gibsyhesperis]

Lol at the posters who are claiming that because he is the only world class batsman in the team, he deserves to hold on to the captaincy. That is not a criterion and should have no bearing

Is anyone really saying that ?

[Saj]

I think the answer is clearly no, in that he is a poor and limited captain, will not improve significantly and an experinced coach won't be able to turn him into a good captain.

However, he is Pakistan's only world class batsman (those who claim otherwise either have a vendetta or simply have no understanding).

Does he have the maturity to accept he should "only" play as a batsman not as captain (like Tendulkar, Atherton, Root did) or will he throw his toys out of the pram (like Lara and countless deposed Pakistani captains of the past) ?

The Pakistani cricketing mentality is very different.

In some countries senior players don't want to captain or are quite happy to step down as skipper.

However in Pakistan if you are a senior player, most feel they have a right to be skipper.

[Saj]

Lol at the posters who are claiming that because he is the only world class batsman in the team, he deserves to hold on to the captaincy. That is not a criterion and should have no bearing

And that's why we are where we are.

This is exactly the mentality that holds Pakistan cricket back.

We don't groom and prepare skippers, just give the job to a senior player and hope for the best.

[Mamoon]

Realistically, you can only replace Babar if you split captaincy between Tests & LOIs. If PCB wants one player to captain across all three formats then there is no replacement for Babar.

He is the only player along with Shaheen who is a guaranteed (& deserving) starter in all three formats. Shaheen’s injury issues & workload management makes him a unviable option for captaincy.

Rizwan’s honeymoon period is over & it will take a while before he wins his place back in the Test team & he might be replaced by Haris in ODIs this year if he continues to fail.

[deems]

Realistically, you can only replace Babar if you split captaincy between Tests & LOIs. If PCB wants one player to captain across all three formats then there is no replacement for Babar.

He is the only player along with Shaheen who is a guaranteed (& deserving) starter in all three formats. Shaheen’s injury issues & workload management makes him a unviable option for captaincy.

Rizwan’s honeymoon period is over & it will take a while before he wins his place back in the Test team & he might be replaced by Haris in ODIs this year if he continues to fail.

I agree with you say about Babar regarding captaincy. It would be interesting to know how you feel Babar would fare under a professional set up and a coach like Mickey Arthur.
I honestly feel that we could have won at least the Asia Cup and more had we not incompetent clowns managing our team.

Tactically, Rizwan has an edge over Babar i feel. But Rizwan is in cuckoo land at the moment. Is he worth backing in terms of captaincy?

Again, I feel under a professional set up, Rizwan would not have been allowed to play anchor in t20s as he has been.

[gibsyhesperis]

Realistically, you can only replace Babar if you split captaincy between Tests & LOIs. If PCB wants one player to captain across all three formats then there is no replacement for Babar.

He is the only player along with Shaheen who is a guaranteed (& deserving) starter in all three formats. Shaheen’s injury issues & workload management makes him a unviable option for captaincy.

Rizwan’s honeymoon period is over & it will take a while before he wins his place back in the Test team & he might be replaced by Haris in ODIs this year if he continues to fail.

Exactly this and a good summary of the the dilemma facing the selectors/management.
A captain has to be worth of a position in the side as a player (Pakistan are too weak a team to carry someone and the player would not command the respect of the dressing room if they repeatedly failed). Brearley was an exception — few test sides would have a captain who doesn’t deserve a place as a player.

I guess an option is to split the red ball/white ball captaincy but that does raise other issues, not least that it requires a level of maturity from both format captains .

[Savak]

Axing Babar as captain from all formats and appointing a more competent captain even if they are not performing consistently will be a bold positive move.

[Jazx]

Not even from white ball he should be axed from captaincy from all formats, the intelligence level he showed while declaring in last test was only laughable. But unfortunately there is not even a single suitable candidate for replacement.

[Muhammad Saad]

Clearly we lack talented players in our domestic setup , there are no real pacers in our domestic FC cricket who can bowl all day long , can extract bounce and zip off the surface and atleast move the ball in one direction, No real spinners who can extract big turn and bounce and fairly accurate as well, The batsmen scoring runs against gentle pacers and darting spinners found it wanting against big boys in International cricket. What should be the next step to find more talent??? U19 lot seems to be even worse then the senior domestic players.

[Muhammad Saad]

it's appaling when our domestic beasts looks like average cricketers when playing Test cricket.

[Muhammad Saad]

Abrar , Mir Hamza , Muhammad Ali our domestic performers looks toothless against Nz and Eng.

[Barragan]

Definitely the bowlers have been disappointing.

However, the performing batsman are doing well, so it's not all doom and gloom.

I'm sure that Ghulam, Huairara and Salahuddin will also do very well if given the opportunity.

[Saj]

Disastrous run of results in Test cricket.

I wonder if that's the format that he will give up captaincy in rather than the white-ball formats?

[gibsyhesperis]

Disastrous run of results in Test cricket.

I wonder if that's the format that he will give up captaincy in rather than the white-ball formats?

That would be the logical conclusion of the run of results we’ve just witnessed.
However, in the white ball game there are credible alternatives (eg Shadab) but they are far more limited choices available in Test cricket (? Imam).

The challenge is that the need for a radical shake up is more pressing in Test cricket

[Pakhs]

That would be the logical conclusion of the run of results we’ve just witnessed.
However, in the white ball game there are credible alternatives (eg Shadab) but they are far more limited choices available in Test cricket (? Imam).

The challenge is that the need for a radical shake up is more pressing in Test cricket

I dont think its a captaincy issue. We do not have experienced test match players. Bowling is totally new and even the batting lacks experience apart from Babar himself and now Safi.

Unfortunately in LOI formats sometime tallent can be enough even if the team is lacking in experience however no test match side has ever been good without experienced players. Unfortunately in Pakistan there is no proper planning of how to replace players and keep enough experienced players in the team. Maximum one member of bowling unit can be a relatively new player at a time and same goes to batting side. There should be a proper planning of how to replace a batsmen if he is going to retire soon etc.

Once you have a decent and experienced test side you need to make sure you give some debuts to some players every now and then to prepare them for a time when anyone retires. And not let bulk retirements maximum one every 2 years.

[Stewie]

Leadership can be taught but Pak cricketers have a reputation for not learning new things and improving. Very few of them improve upon their debut in the national team.

[W63L35]

So the #5 ranked team (Pakistan) just beat #1 ranked team (NZ) under the leadship of Babar Azam.

His ODI (White Ball) captaincy record is now the BEST among all time Pakistani ODI captains.

He has captained against 7 teams and has winning record against 6 of those team including NZ, Aus and SAF.

Kamran Akmal might consider changing his mind.......

[Zaz]

Kamran Akmal was more talented batsman than Babar Azam. However he did not get as much chances.

I would bench Babar and introduce Kamran as opener in the T20 squad. The captain of T20 team should be Shadab.

Surely joke post of the week

Babar is fine for limited overs cricket He has been performing and winning in odis Tests are the issue

[MenInG]

Happy Birthday to Kamran Akmal:

Born: January 13, 1982 (age 41 years), Lahore, Pakistan

[ArabKnight]

Surely joke post of the week

Babar is fine for limited overs cricket He has been performing and winning in odis Tests are the issue

Kamran actually was more talented than Babar but he ruined himself by not being hardworking. Look at the stats. Kamran was a highly skilled bat with nice strokeplay and attacking style. However he did not work hard to improve against international bowling like McGrath, Sreesanth, Cheema.

[Rana]

He won’t step down from anything

He has to be forcefully removed

[Saj]

Spoke with a couple of people close to him.

At the moment he has no intention of stepping down as captain in any format.

[Savak]

Apparently the PCB is interested in appointing Kamran Akmal as the junior team chief selector

[Zaz]

Kamran actually was more talented than Babar but he ruined himself by not being hardworking. Look at the stats. Kamran was a highly skilled bat with nice strokeplay and attacking style. However he did not work hard to improve against international bowling like McGrath, Sreesanth, Cheema.

Nonsense, just because someone can hit a couple of pretty drives doesnt make one more talented than Babar. Babar is a very correct and stylish batsman in his own right. He has been highly thought of from a young age and was going to play for pakistan

FYI i watched kamran from the start of his career and he flattered to deceive more often than not

Kamran Akmals intnl stats show hes not half the batter his cousin babar is


Back to topic looks like the Akmals have an axe to grind since Umar and Kamran havent been part of the team for the last 3-4 years and hence all this vitrol against Babar

[boomboomcheema]

Senior Akmal doesn't seem to have any love for his cousin Babar.

[MenInG]

As per Wahab Riaz in an interview regarding Kamran Akmal:

"Surely, his absence will highly be felt, but, I have heard that he is most likely to get a coaching job in Zalmi setup"

[MenInG]

Kamran Akmal in an interview:

"I talk about India because if you see the top four players who have scored most hundreds in the past 10-12 years, three of them are from India."

"So they play long cricket and that's what should be our focus too. We will need to mentally prepare our players and make them stronger and this should now happen from age-group cricket."

[shaz619]

Is this guy related to Babar by any chance?

[MenInG]

Is this guy related to Babar by any chance?

They are cousins.